A Blah Thursday

I don't feel well....I'm not SICK, mind you, I just don't feel well. Like I'm on the verge of coming down with something. Kinda achy, tired, low-grade-feverish. Of course, the lovely weather probably isn't helping much. 26 degrees as I'm writing this with a wind chill of about 19.

As I came up I-81 to work this morning, I noticed a little portable pop-up sign beside the road that said "Accident Ahead". About 3 miles past the sign, I decided someone had just forgotten to retrieve the sign after clearing up an accident, since nothing was in sight. Just as I approached Exit 7, though, I saw that traffic was backed up in the northbound lanes. I took the exit, went over to Lee Highway, and took that up to Exit 10, where I got back on the interstate (north of the accident). It didn't add a lot of time to my commute, even though traffic diverted onto Lee Highway was unusually heavy. After I got to work, I learned that there'd been an accident at 6:00 last night just around the 8-mile marker. A tractor-trailer carrying cosmetics (headed south) lost control of his truck, veered across the median, and collided with a tanker truck carrying sulfuric acid. The tanker is still in the median; they're trying to get another tanker moved in to transfer the acid. They say that the interstate will have to be completely blocked during the transfer, and that the interstate probably won't reopen until late this afternoon. Sounds like I'll be going home by "back roads" today. Luckily, we're only having light snow showers, so running two-lane roads shouldn't be difficult. In fact, it may even be scenic. *keeping a positive attitude.....or trying to, at least*

My upstairs neighbor left a note under my door last Friday complaining about Meggie barking while she's trying to sleep (she has insomnia, she has sleep apnea, etc., etc., etc.). As soon as I came home and found the note, I went to talk to the apartment manager, who is a gem if ever there was one. I asked her advice in the matter. I proposed to respond by a note explaining that I make it a point never to leave Meggie alone during "quiet hours" as established in the lease. (Which is true....she's never alone overnight...hasn't been since the first of March, 2007.) I asked the manager if she'd look over the note after I'd composed it to see if she thought I'd said too much or too little. She agreed and said she felt I was taking the proper steps. I went home and composed the note and e-mailed it to her so she could look it over first thing Monday morning. In the note I also stated that I try very hard to be a considerate neighbor (no vacuuming, laundry, etc. during quiet hours), and that I commiserated with her problems with insomnia and sleep apnea, both of which have plagued me in the past. I also mentioned that a CPAP machine had helped my situation tremendously.

When the apartment manager came to work Monday, she looked over my note and e-mailed me that she thought it looked great. I was off work that day (holiday) so I printed it, signed it, and slipped it under my neighbor's door. I didn't hear anything from her until she and I happened to be at our (side-by-side) parking places at the same time when I came home from work Tuesday afternoon. I passed a few pleasantries with her (weather, etc.). As we approached the stairs, she said that she supposed she was just going to have to put up with the barking dog.

I told her that, as I'd said in my note, I fully intended to see that Meggie is never left alone during "quiet hours", but that there just isn't much I can do while I'm at work.....and I HAVE to go to work. (She doesn't. Must be nice.) She commented that the barking didn't bother her as much as it bothered her nephew. (Which is interesting, since he's not on the lease. She supposedly lives alone. Also, he'd griped earlier about the fact that she has only one assigned parking space. In addition to that, when he comes in and out, he stomps on the stairs so hard it rings in my living room. Anyway.....) The entire time we were talking in the breezeway, the neighbor who lives diagonally across the breezeway from me was trying to get his Pomeranian to stop barking. It was really raising the roof! My upstairs neighbor commented that she didn't know how my dog could bark all morning long without making herself sick. I brought to her attention that the entire time we were talking, the Pomeranian was raising Cain, but Meggie hadn't made a sound. I actually think that she may be blaming Meggie for ANY barking she hears, and that's just not so. Oh well.

Then she said that maybe I should just bring "the dog" to her apartment when I leave for work and let her stay there. That way she'd be quiet. I was honestly stunned. I don't even KNOW this woman. We've had a total of three conversations, including this one; one of the other conversations involved her nephew's displeasure with the assigned parking situation. So two of three conversations have been gripe sessions for her, and she wants me to trust HER to take care of Meggie? Oh, I don't think so!

I told her that I'm leaving a radio on in the living room and a television on in the bedroom to make a little noise so that it will hopefully mask outside noises, making Meg quieter while I'm gone.

I stopped to talk to my apartment manager on my way home yesterday afternoon to fill her in on the conversation I'd had with my neighbor. She said that she didn't much care what the woman upstairs wants, that I've done everything I need to do in the situation. Sheesh, there's always ONE in the crowd, isn't there?

"A380 Rolls Off Tarmac in Singapore"

....but thankfully, "no passengers are injured". Now I'm left to wonder if that was the flight that Kris and Louise were on. The Wall Street Journal article stated that it was a Singapore Airline flight that was getting ready to depart Singapore for Sydney late Thursday. Which Thursday? Theirs or ours???

I waited until the time their flight was supposed to arrive in Sydney and confirmed that it had landed, so either the flight that rolled off the tarmac was the day before their flight, or Singapore Air moved them to another plane and didn't renumber the flight. I'll find out when I hear from Kris.

What a week! It's been the first full week back at work, and it's been a bear. I'm always glad to see Friday roll around, but I'm ESPECIALLY glad to see it today!

I've been doing a little housework each evening, so thankfully I won't have a lot to do this weekend, unless I start myself a special project. I'm going to try really hard not to do that this weekend....I need REST!!

A Milestone

I drive a 1998 Saturn SC1 that I bought new. This week (September 10 to be exact) my Saturn and I reached a milestone...100,000 miles!

I knew I would probably reach the 100,000 mile mark on my way to work Monday morning, so I put my camera in the car when I left home. I kept an eye on the odometer, intending to pull over and snap a picture when it happened. Just as I reached the parking lot at work, it rolled over 100,000. I actually took this photo while my car was sitting in my usual parking place at the office. How weird is that?

Meggie and I enjoyed another weekend at Grindstone two weeks ago. Tomorrow I'm headed to Clintwood with Mom and Dad to attend Mom's family reunion. I'm taking my trusty camera, because both of Mom's sisters are expected to be there, and it's been AGES since I got a photo of the three of them together.

On Sunday, Mom and Dad will be headed for Grindstone. Meg and I will be going up on Friday for the weekend. Camping season is, sadly, winding down. As much as I love that crisp cool whiff of fall in the morning air, I know that it means it's nearly time to pack away the camping gear until spring. After the Grindstone trip, I have one more camping trip planned: a week in North Carolina. *happy sigh* I'm really looking forward to that!

The Tuesday after I came back from Grindstone last time, I stopped on my way home from a rehearsal to pick up some take-out Moo Goo Gai Pan. I was up all night, violently ill. I thought I'd gotten hold of a bad batch of Moo Goo, but that would have been really unusual. I bought it from my regular Chinese place, and they'd never let me down before. As it turns out, it was apparently viral because a lot of people had it. Mom and Dad even had what seemed to be a lighter case of it.

I was home sick Wednesday, but dragged in to the office and worked Thursday and Friday. Saturday I woke up sick, feverish and miserable, so I stayed in all weekend. I was still feeling really terrible Monday, but dragged myself into work yet again. I had so many things that simply HAD to be done at the office that I forced myself to go in each day. Last night (Thursday), I was feeling sick and exhausted by the time I came home from work. I took a couple of Excedrin right after supper and went to bed pretty early. I'm sure I was asleep by 10:00. At 1:00 am I woke up just as thought the alarm had sounded. *eeeeeeeeek* I finally gave up about 1:30, got up, and paid some bills. Then I played a little on the Pogo game site. I began to feel sleepy again about 3:30 and went back to bed. I began to doze a little after 5:00; my alarm woke me up at 5:30. *LOL*

Happily though, I've felt much better today. Tired, but better. In fact, I'm beginning to yawn now, so I think I'll call it a night.

Summer Fun

It's been awhile since I've posted, so I'll catch up a bit. On May 11, MeggieDog and I went to Bandit's Roost Campground in Wilkesboro, NC for the weekend. Mom and Dad were already there, having arrived the Sunday before. I arrived much earlier than the 4:00 pm check-in time, and was not surprised to find that my site was still occupied by the folks who didn't have to check out until 3:00 pm. I visited with Mom and Dad on their site until my site was available.

Daddy helped me set up, so it went very quickly. It threatened to rain, but rained all around us. Meggie was busy all day exploring to the end of her tie-out cable. By bedtime she was so exhausted that she went into the tent and collapsed onto her doggie cushion, not even trying to get up onto the inflatable mattress where I was sleeping.

On Saturday, we went to nearby Wilkes Community College to visit the Merle Watson Memorial Garden for the Senses. It was just lovely; I can only imagine what it must look like when everything is in bloom! There are a few photos of it posted on my Flickr site; you'll find a link to that on the right side of this page.

As soon as the tent and screen tent dried out on Sunday morning, I broke camp (Daddy helped) and packed up the car. After enjoying a wonderful lunch fixed by Mom, Meg and I left for home about 1:00 p.m. It was a glorious day, perfect for riding with the sunroof open. Meg, tired from a weekend of watching squirrels, chipmunks, and people, slept all the way home. I had a mild case of what I think must have been sun poisioning. I was fairly red (especially my arms) and had a mild rash which disappeared the next day. The next time I was exposed to sun, though, the rash temporarily reappeared. Guess that's the price you pay for spending most of your life and a concrete office with fluorescent lighting and no windows.

The next Friday (May 18), Meg and I headed for Natural Tunnel State Park. Friday and dark and gloomy, rain clouds threatening. It was downright cool compared to the weather we'd had recently, so as soon as I got everything set up I changed from my shorts into jeans and a jacket. I set up my lounge chair and got out a book I've been reading. Meg got up into my lap and I wrapped her in a small blanket. There we rested, warm and happy, for a good while.

After I'd read for a while and Meggie napped, we took a brief hike from the campground to Lovers Leap (photos on Flickr). It was a good hike, but I'm not used to it; the "moderate" trail was pretty steep, but we made it fine, taking time to rest as needed. We went to ride the chairlift down to the floor of Natural Tunnel, but they had the lift closed for maintenance.

We went to bed fairly early (as is usual for us) and slept well, cozy and warm with a small heater running in the tent. On Saturday, we took the chairlift to the floor of the tunnel. No sooner had we arrived than a train came through (photos on Flickr). I was very excited, because when I was camping at Natural Tunnel last summer I'd tried several times to be there when a train came through (they don't have a regular schedule), but had never managed it. Meggie, however, was less than thrilled about the train. I was able to take a few photos, but it was difficult with Meggie trying to wrap herself around my head!

We went back to the campsite and curled up in the lounge chair for another reading/napping session. Just about lunchtime, Mom and Dad arrived, bringing broasted chicken lunches and a load of firewood so I could have a campfire that night. We drove around the park so they could see the pool, the Cove Center, and the blockhouse. Then we went to nearby Duffield; Mom wanted to go to a flea market there. The vendor she was hoping to see wasn't there (I can't for the life of me remember what she was looking for), so they only bought some apples and bananas.

We went back to the campground and visited awhile; when they left, they insisted that I keep some of the leftover chicken for my supper and a piece of fruit. Meg and I took another chairlift ride to the floor of the Tunnel and took the short walk to the Carter Cabin. She liked walking in the shade of the trees near the creek. A group of small children wanted to pet her; she was a bit nervous about it but behaved beautifully.

That evening I ate cold chicken (it was even better cold than it had been for lunch) for supper and started my campfire. The wood was well-seasoned, and caught fire quickly. I suddenly remembered my apple. I washed it, quartered it and wrapped it in aluminum foil. I put it into the coals of the campfire and left it for 20 minutes. When I carefully fished it out, it was steamy hot, sweet, and cooked to perfection. It was hard to wait for it to cool enough for me to eat it! Meg got a few bites and enjoyed it, too.

I took my time breaking camp Sunday morning; the day was beautiful, and I had several camping neighbors come to visit while I was working. It was after 1:00 by the time I got away; I stopped and visited with Mom and Dad for a little bit before heading on home.

Memorial Weekend was a non-camping weekend. There wasn't a camping spot available within a 100-mile radius! Mom and I went on a shopping trip on Friday and had a good, but tiring day. Saturday I planted some tomato and squash plants out on my deck and some New Guinea impatients (sp?) next to my front door. Sunday I did some laundry and various other household chores. Yesterday, Mom, Dad and I met some friends at a camper sales lot to admire the new camper they'd just purchased.

Mom and Dad left this morning to go to Pigeon Forge; I'm going down (just for the day) on Friday. They're going to use one of their guest passes to take me to Dollywood. If the line's not too long, I plan to ride the wooden roller coaster. *YAY*

An Eventful Vacation

Finally I have time to post about vacation! I'll have photos posted at my Flickr site (see link at the right). We started out from Mom & Dad's at 6:23 am on Sunday, February 25. It was raining lightly on us all the way through Knoxville. We could see blue sky peeking through the clouds as we reached the west side of Knoxville, though.

Shortly after turning south toward Chattanooga, the sun popped through, and good weather prevailed. We stopped in a Cracker Barrel in Gadsden, Alabama for lunch, then continued on our way. We arrived in Vicksburg shortly after 5:00 pm our time (EST). Considering the time we'd spent at lunch, we made excellent driving time.

Not long after we'd checked into our motel, Raechel called to say that Lesa would be getting off work soon, and they'd be out shortly after. When they came over, we learned that Jeremy was working, and we wouldn't see him until the next day. Mom and Dad treated us all to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. The furnishings in the restaurant looked a bit tattered and worn, but the food was really good. When we got back to the motel, we visited a bit. I knew that Mom and Dad had to be tired, so I invited Lesa and Rae to come to my room and watch the Academy Awards on TV until time for Lesa to pick up Jeremy at work. Rae fell asleep in a chair while Lesa and I watched the awards.

The next morning, since Mom, Dad and I were still operating on EST, we ate the complimentary breakfast provided by the motel and waited for Lesa, Jeremy and Rae to arrive. We then went to City Cemetary, a very old and unusually beautiful resting place filled with interesting historic markers. After walking a good deal in the cemetary, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant where Raechel works. It was really delicious; their hot and sour soup is the best I've ever eaten anywhere.

After lunch, we went to the military park. Vicksburg has the most beautiful military park I've ever visited, and I've visited a few! There are 1,330 markers and monuments in the park, and the 16-mile tour road is a beautiful, leisurely drive. One of the highlights of the park is the U.S.S. Cairo, a Union ironclad which was sunk on December 12, 1862, in the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg. The Cairo was raised in 1964 and is on display. A museum houses various artifacts from the vessel.

Jeremy had to work Monday afternoon/evening, so we got back in time for Lesa to take him to work. Lesa then took a nap, and Raechel had plans for a bit with a friend. After a take-out dinner at the motel, Lesa and Rae went home and Mom, Dad and I turned in early. It had been an eventful day, and we were still operating on Eastern Standard Time!

The next morning we were up early as usual, had a complimentary breakfast again, and Daddy dropped Mom and me off at the Ameristar Casino. We told him we'd only be a couple of hours, and he told me to call his cell phone when we were finished. I hadn't been inside a casino in a long time, and considered my "breaking even" to be a real win! Mom wasn't quite as lucky. :-)

When we finished at the Ameristar, we still had some time to kill; Lesa and Jeremy were coming over after dropping Raechel off at work at 11:00 CST. Daddy asked what I'd like to do, and I asked if it would be too much trouble to go across the Mississippi River into Louisiana for a bit.

We went across the bridge, and turned down a road which took us out onto a levee. It was a beautiful warm day, and the sun shining on the pools of water by the levee was striking. After awhile, we came off the levee and back into Vicksburg. We stopped at the Visitor's Center for a brief time, then came back to the motel.

Jeremy and Lesa arrived at the motel shortly after we got there, and we went to a Cracker Barrel for lunch. We had to come back to the motel right away because there'd been a mixup with Mom and Dad's motel bill, and the manager was working on straightening it out. Daddy wanted to stay close until it was all settled, so we just rested and watched TV that afternoon until Jeremy had to go to work. After he went to work, I said that I'd like to go to the Port of Vicksburg. We went down to the port and saw some beautiful murals painted on the concrete walls at the riverfront. We also went through a lovely little park nearby, then drove through part of the historic district to see some of the wonderful old homes there.

We were too late to tour the homes, but got permission from one of the employees to walk around the grounds at Cedar Grove, a lovely antebellum estate which now serves as an elegant bed and breakfast. Cedar Grove took its lumps during the War Between the States; a cannonball is lodged in a parlor wall. The only reason Cedar Grove was spared during the shelling of Vicksburg is that its owners allowed the home to be used as a Union hospital. The mistress of the house was a cousin of General William Tecumseh Sherman, and was therefore ostracized by the residents of Vicksburg. Her husband, oddly enough, was not treated with the same animosity.

When we finished touring, we stopped and picked up some excellent take-out barbecue sandwiches and went back to the motel to eat. I felt like all we'd done for days was ride in the car and eat!

On Wednesday morning, after Mom, Dad and I had our usual quick motel breakfast, we went out touring around town a bit. We went down on Washington Street, where Mom and I spent a good while in the Tourist Information Center. We bought t-shirts and I bought a hat, and we talked with a guide there who told us lots of interesting things I wish we'd had time to do! After we drove some more in the historic district, we then went down to a little park on the river where we could watch a tugboat pushing a barge up the river. By then, it was nearly time for Lesa and Jeremy to come by.

We walked to a nearby Shoney's for lunch. I felt the need for something green, so I hit the salad bar. After lunch, Lesa looked just exhausted; she was to pick up Raechel at 2:00 (her lunch break from work), so Daddy suggested that she go to my room and take a nap until time to pick up Rae. Instead of waking her up when the time came, Daddy went to get her. When they came back to the motel, Jeremy, Rae and I started playing cards. Lesa was still sleeping. Mom suggested that Raechel call Lesa and ask when she was going to pick her up from work. *EG* Rae did so, and Lesa sure enough thought she'd slept through the time to get her. Mom and I quickly took credit for the stunt so Lesa wouldn't kill Rae. *LOL*

Lesa had to go into work that afternoon, and Raechel told us she didn't have to go back to work that evening. So Jeremy and Raechel stayed with us for a good while; we took them to Whataburger for supper. The food was good, but I enjoyed the music more than the food. (60's nostalgia)

After we dropped them off at their apartment, we went back to the motel to get packed and get a good night's sleep before heading home the next morning.

Since we were leaving long before the motel offered their complimentary breakfast, we checked out and went back to the Whataburger (open 24 hours) for breakfast. I liked their breakfast even more than the burgers they're famous for.

The beautiful weather we'd enjoyed since arriving in Vicksburg was gone. A cool rain fell on us as we headed toward Jackson. Daddy had offered to go home a longer route so that I could see some of the Natchez Trace. (I'd only seen the portion of it from Jackson to Port Gibson previously.) After we turned north onto the Natchez Trace, we began seeing deer in the early morning darkness. The rain lessened as daylight finally arrived. We stopped at a few of the historic markers on the Trace and took a few pictures. The weather was gray and dreary, so the Bynum Indian mounds were our last stop.

We came off the Trace at Tupelo, intending to see Elvis Presley's birthplace. The rain was setting in pretty steady by then, and we thought we'd missed a sign somewhere because we couldn't find the birthplace. We gave up and decided to turn north on Hwy. 45. (As it turned out, I learned later than we were probably less than 1,000 feet from the birthplace but didn't know it.) We drove to Corinth, Mississippi; on our way there, we drove through one of the worst rainstorms I've ever seen. A tractor-trailer was stuck in the median of the 4-lane highway at one point. All the ditches beside the road ran full of water. We were happy to see that storm move off to our east, even though we knew we'd have to drive through it again before we got home. We'd watched the Weather Channel the evening before and knew that we were apt to drive through some rough weather on our way home no matter which route we took.

We stopped at a Shoney's in Corinth for lunch; when we finished, I asked Daddy if he'd like me to drive awhile. He said he'd take it awhile longer. I knew he was thinking of that rainstorm, so I didn't press it. I figured he'd let me drive again after we got through that mess.

Driving east from Corinth, I realized we'd soon come to the Alabama state line. I wanted a photo of the state "welcome" sign since I'd missed getting a photo of it on our way to Vicksburg, so I took my camera out of its case and laid it in my lap. (Daddy was driving, I was riding the shotgun seat, and Mom was in the back seat, behind Daddy.) Fourteen miles east of Corinth, we were passing through a little community known as Burnsville, Mississippi. We were on US 72, a four-lane divided highway, traveling the speed limit. On our left, I saw a white Chevy S-10 pickup truck coming across from our left. He'd run a stop sign on his cross street, crossed three lanes of US 72, and hit Daddy's jeep in the left front.

When I saw the pickup headed across the highway, I thought "He's not gonna stop." Mom said that I actually said "He's not gonna..." before the kerblam! After the impact, I actually had no idea how bad the damage was. All I knew was that we were traveling down the side of US 72 in the pea gravel beside the road, and off to my right was a really deep ditch with what looked like a creek running in it. I heard metal on pavement and thought the tire was flat on the left front. It took a good way for Daddy to get the Jeep stopped. When we all asked each other if we were okay (we were), Daddy and I both got out of the Jeep. He started walking back up to the intersection where we got hit and said to me, "See if you can find my wheel. I don't know where it went." That was the first time I realized that the front wheel had been ripped off the Jeep! I finally found it down in the water in the ditch beside the Jeep.

The truck that hit us had the driver and two adult passengers in that little bitty pickup truck. Not one of them was wearing a seatbelt. The driver had no insurance, and was driving on a revoked license. The impact knocked the truck 180 degrees back into the crossover of 72. No one was injured. It was unbelievable. EMT transported the two passengers in the truck; there were no injuries, but there were some high blood pressure and high blood sugar issues to deal with. In our vehicle, Mom had what the EMTs called a "strawberry mark" from her shoulder harness. Her neck was sore for a couple of days, but other than that we walked away unscathed, thank God.

The Jeep didn't fare as well. As luck would have it, the wreck happened just down the road from a tire store that also did wrecker service. After the police came and filled out reports, the owner of the tire store moved the Jeep up to a locked lot on his premises. He invited Mom and me to stay in the waiting area of the tire store (warm, dry, and he had a big screen TV) while one of his employees took Daddy back to Corinth to rent a car to get us home.

While we were waiting in the tire store, a horrible rainstorm hit Burnsville. Watching the news, we heard about the tornadoes causing such terrible damage in Alabama. I told Mom that as bad as the accident was, we could have been in much more trouble if we'd gone home the way we went to Vicksburg. If we'd take that same route home, we'd have been right in the midst of the tornadoes! Talk about a strange set of circumstances....

With the weather forecasts for that night looking so terrible, Mom and Dad decided we should probably just get a motel room near Burnsville, stay the night, and start over the next morning. It sounded like a great idea to me. Daddy had rented a car from Enterprise in Corinth. Unfortunately, Enterprise there didn't have any one-way rentals available, so he was going to have to return that car by Monday afternoon. Paul, one of Daddy's good friends, suggested that maybe we could find a one-way rental in one of the larger towns over in Alabama and return the Enterprise car.

So, the next morning we packed up and headed for Alabama. Armed with a Florence, Alabama number for Enterprise and my cell phone, I rode shotgun again with Daddy under the wheel so I could make calls on the way. I had to wait awhile for Enterprise to open (we were still in Central time zone). When they opened, I learned that they didn't have one-way rentals, either, but that nearby Avis did. I got directions to the Avis location at the airport (actually in Muscle Shoals, where some of my all-time favorite music was recorded....Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, and my favorite song ever, Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll"). We got to Avis 20 minutes before they were to open, so we just waited in the parking lot, soaking up a bit of Alabama sun in the meantime.

When Avis opened, they told us they didn't have one-way rentals either. I have to admit that by this time my patience was wearing a little thin. The lady at Avis gave me a number for Hertz in Florence. When I called Hertz, they (hallelujah) said they had one-way rentals available. I got directions, and away we went. When we rented the Hertz car, Daddy drove it and I drove the Enterprise car; back we went to Corinth. Sixty miles. We turned in the Enterprise car, then went to the same Shoney's where we'd had lunch 24 hours earlier. The hostess remembered us!

We were then, finally, back on the way home. I drove from Corinth until we stopped for gas just before we got to Chattanooga. Daddy drove the rest of the way in. We had a slight scare just east of Huntsville. A young man pulled across 3 lanes of US 72 from a cross street, just like the pickup truck that hit us in Burnsville. I, luckily, was a bit paranoid and was expecting him to do something stupid. Mom and Dad both said that he looked up and saw me just as I got the car stopped. He actually never saw me coming. So much for having the right-of-way! *whew*

Other than a traffic jam in Chattanooga, the rest of the trip was uneventful, thank goodness. By the time we got the luggage in at Mom and Dad's and I got home, it was 11:00 pm. We'd left Vicksburg at 6:10 am the day before. Boy, was I ever glad to see home!

Luckily, we were able to handle all the paperwork (getting police reports to the right place, etc.) by fax. The insurance adjuster called Daddy Wednesday and told him the Jeep was totaled; Chrysler had told him to total it at $8,000, and he stopped counting the damage after he reached $8,300. So we got all the appropriate forms faxed to Detroit, and got Mom and Dad's new vehicle ordered.

All in all, a very eventful vacation! It's taken me so long to write this epistle that I'll wait until tomorrow night to post the vacation photos on Flickr.