I get to see my babies today!    I am so excited I can’t wait.   Unfortunately I look like a hobo.   In trying to save washer/dryer costs we decided to do laundry at Gregory’s house this weekend.   Unfortunately it means I am down to my last pair of everything and look like one of those people that go to Walmart at 3 am in their pajamas.   Yes, I have been in my pajama bottoms for two days.  So embarrassing.    Also I can’t wear jeans right now anyway because of a horrible rash on my legs.   Greg spilled diesel fuel on his jacket a while back so we washed it.   I didn’t want to spend the money just to wash a jacket so I threw our jeans in with it.   Everything still smelled a bit like diesel fuel but I figured it would wear off.   So I put my jeans on without thinking anything about it and noticed my legs were hurting.  Went to the bathroom and had a horrible red painful rash on my thighs.  So off come the jeans and I have been in loose fitting sweat pants or pajama bottoms for a week.    I am going to have to rewash everything this weekend.  Maybe twice.   Fortunately being an old nurse I packed a bit of everything so I had some steroid cream and gold bond and the rash is so much better.   I walked like a duck for two days. LOL.   I am so glad that I don’t know any of these people we see in truck stops or I would have died of embarrassment by now.   Of course now we look like we fit in.   The truckers I’ve seen wouldn’t win any fashion awards anyway.  I guess when you sit for hours everyday In a truck by yourself you don’t care much about your appearance.    I do though and can’t wait to do laundry!!

I love seeing all the horse farms in Florida.   I never knew they had so many until we moved down here.    Horses and cows everywhere!  Huge farms with hundreds of acres.   We passed one with 183 acres for sale.

Made it to the Walmart distribution center on time.   A little worried after the late stop last night but we made it.   This one is even bigger.  We are at dock 343 this time.

We made it in the to see the kids.  They were so excited.   Sadie started crying.   I have missed them so much!   We ate a good bowl of homemade potato soup and played some games and now its bed time.   The girls want me to read some of their Bible stories and we are having a sleep over on the floor (Hope I can get out of bed in the am).

Goodnight, y’all.

Greg. –  Just turned onto Highway 301 S. Florida.  I remember this route number.  It was one we took several, if not every time, we went to Florida.  In 1959 my grandfather died and my aunt, cousin and grandmother moved to St. Petersburg. Every summer thereafter we would take our vacation at her house. Dad would always drive straight through getting up early in the morning and heading out before dawn.  I would crawl in the back seat and go back to sleep.  I remember him planning the trip several days in advance trying to find the best route.  Sometimes he would call AAA and get one of their trip packs that had the best route for shortest miles, fastest time, motel stops, gas pricing along the way and whatever else one requested.  I only remember staying in a motel once during these trips, two weeks every summer from 1960 through 1969 and that was at what i would call a novelty motel that had cabin rooms in the shape of tepees.  I think dad was intrigued by this roadside attraction is the only reason we stopped.  Otherwise it was straight through, 24 hours to go 1100 miles.  I would move from the back to the front throughout the trip depending on what I wanted to see and if I felt sleepy.  No car seats, no seat belts, total freedom to move about the car.  And I’m still alive.  Imagine that.  Anyway, looking at 301 today, it is much different than what I remember although there were several familiar sights I seem to remember.  As I recall this particular route was populated on either side with roadside attractions.  Petting zoos, exotic animal displays, alligator farms, souvenir shops and the all popular Stuckey’s.  I remember begging dad to stop at every one of them.  Of course that would have been impractical and quite costly at the time, so on occasion he would indulge me and we would stop and take the tour.  Snakes, monkeys, alligators, lizards.  That’s about as exotic as it got as best I can remember, but I enjoyed it just the same and wanted to go back year after year.  And a pecan log from Stuckey’s. Not sure why I was fascinated with these things, crushed pecans stuck to a roll of nougat.  I would eat maybe a third of it, saying I was going to save the rest for later and never finished them.  Dad bought me one every year nonetheless.

Riding down 301 today, four lanes now instead of the two lanes I remember, brought back many memories.  Some of the buildings that held the “tourist traps” as dad called them, are still there, run down, abandoned, some found other uses as junk/antique shops, but nothing resembling the glory days of parking lots full of cars with license plates from all points north and wide eyed kids looking at the wonders of Florida wild life on display for all to see.  And the bumper stickers.  Back then it was a custom for the attractions you stopped at to put one of their stickers on your bumper and in my mind a level of prestige to have several on your back bumper to show what fun you had at all the attractions you stopped at.

Well, a trip down memory lane and a stop over for a couple of days with the grand kids. It’s been a good week.  Good night and God Bless.

You know you are in Florida when it rains every afternoon.

Osprey nest

Girls in the bunk of the truck.