HOME, HOME, AT LAST

We arrived last night to our Shangri La, and it was great to be back. We had a wonderful time, but to quote Dorothy, "There's no place like home!" We had some glitches this morning (overflowing AC drain into the kitchen and no internet) but both are fixed now and all is well.

People have been emailing me wanting to know why we didn't get a ticket when we were pulled over last week, so here's the story: First, the trooper informed us that we were going 83 in a 70 mph zone, and asked to see the genius's license. As the genius was handing it over to him, he said (as he had been instructed to do}, "There's something I need to tell you. I have a right-to-carry license (and he whipped it out) and there's a loaded .38 in the glove compartment."

Immediately, the trooper's stern attitude relaxed and he said, "Oh, that's ok. I'll just give you a warning then. Just slow down." We were both flabbergasted! It was so obvious that he changed as soon as he heard about have the r-t-c license. We discussed it for a long time afterwards trying to figure it out. We never did work it out. If you have any ideas, please comment or email me.

Needless to say, we were very grateful. We also didn't speed (at least not much), especially after we got out of Tennessee.

We actually enjoyed our long ride, believe it or not. There was lots of scenery to see, we had some great music I had purchased for the trip, and we discovered a game to play that had us laughing a lot. We would take a name of a town (especially if it was a Native American name) and try to make up a sentence with it. Example: Tucumcari (New Mexico) -- "'two cum carry' a lot more than one." Very corny, I know, but we enjoyed it. The genius especially liked it because he would somehow work in the "peeing on foot" incident into his. We became very creative and it kept us from getting too cranky with each other. (I must admit, though, having that .38 in the glove compartment right in front of me tempted me a few times when he got testy.)

Overall, I highly recommend what we did, with the possible exception of taking a pet along. But even that was enjoyable because we could have the peace of mind that nothing could happen to our little darling. And I must admit he was a trooper on the road.

And --- by the way, it's our 49th anniversary today. Get ready for next year, everyone! There's no telling WHAT we'll do to celebrate!