I have hinted before that when my sister and I travel together, "things" happen. What are rare bumps in the road for others are common hits for us. We're use to it.
The big plan: I left with my middle daughter on the morning of the 29th of July, from Mountain Home, AR, to Memphis, TN. At Diana's home we changed cars and transferred luggage to her Town and Country. (bigger vehicle) Off to Clarksville, TN, to Annaliese's and Bret's home, we drove to deposit Robin. Robin will be staying with one sister, then the other, Haley, in Mount Juliet, TN, with the "feels like" a dozen or so children. Andrew's and Haley's four are all adorable and all energetic. (I hope Robin takes her vitamins.)
We left Clarksville, TN, at 19:20 to begin our non stop drive to Long Key Boat, FL. Yes, it was still on the 29th of July. We talked about how grateful the cop did not give my sister a ticket for speeding on the way to Clarksville, TN, and for the most part we expected a routine drive.
A few hours later, leaving the gas station, I returned onto the ramp of Interstate 75 heading NORTH. Fortunately, the GPS lady hooted and hollered that now we had to travel 12 miles before turning around. Okay.
We stopped at another gas station at the turn around because we had not gotten gas at the other gas station where I had miss directed myself. Car fueled, we fired up Diana's car, and it only sputtered. It was getting morning, so the AAA tow truck found us easy and booted the battery.
We were on the road again. So excited were we that two senior citizens could pull an all nighter. The all nighter was going to continue, as our hotel room was not ready.
All right, we'll do lunch; Diana realized one of her sandals had been left at one of the gas stations. No "problemo"...; she had her bed room slippers. After lunch at the Colombian Restaurant at Sarasota Beach, FL, our car barely started, and we began thinking oh, oh.
At the hotel, it died again. With the help of a good Samaritan with battery cables, we headed to Wally World, (Walmart). We laughed that we drove many hours just to shop at Walmart because that is what we do...just one of those little bumps in our road. And, yes, we have a new battery. Thank you, Walmart!
At 18:00, we scrambled toward the ocean. Talking to each other while briskly walking to the bridge that connects to the beach, we nearly became part of a bride's entourage for her wedding. As the wedding planner signalled the bride to cross the bridge, we backed away carefully and quickly. That was almost an oops!
The good news...
No sharks at the beach... :-)
Tired and grateful that we could sit down at the hotel's restaurant, the server informed us that the hotel's restaurant had closed for the evening. Oh, another litte mole hill on our fun road of life...
Diana's car, (thanks to Wally World), was drivable. We found a place to eat supper at 21:45, returning to the hotel at 23:00.
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We sisters were grooving!!!
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We also slept until 11:15 AM the next day.
:-D
