Mother’s Day Weekend

Saturday, May 11 – Monday, May 13

I had to say good-bye to Christy and the US Virgin Islands early Saturday morning, and start making my way back to the mainland. I turned in the rental car – relieved that the week of driving on the wrong side of the road was finished without incident. After driving for a week in Puerto Rico with signs all in Spanish, and then driving for a week on the wrong side of the road in the Virgin Islands, I think I’m done with driving in “foreign” places!

Christy’s flight was more than 3 hours after mine, and I had dropped her off early back at the beach – she wanted to enjoy her last few hours there. Later she told me she walked another 8 miles on the beach and took a final dip in the ocean, so she ended up walking 64 miles – more than I’ve ever done in a state/territory!

The first leg of my return took me back to San Juan where I had a long layover, but I had a good book, and since I seldom have time to read, I didn’t mind the layover. Then a flight to Miami and then back to Gainesville, where Toni picked me up, and then I was reunited with Tula.

Tula’s doing well – due to unexpected travel plans, both Toni’s dog and Tula had to be in the kennel for the first 10 days while I was gone, and Toni noticed some blood in Tula’s urine after picking them up, so she had to deal with a vet visit, which indicated a bladder infection, plus they took an X-ray to make sure if wasn’t more serious. So she’s been on antibiotics, and is doing well, and was a happy puppy to have me back!

Mother’s Day was wonderful. Toni took me to the Flying Biscuit for a yummy brunch, then we went and got pedicures courtesy of Taryn, and then we went and watched the new Great Gatsby movie and ate lots of popcorn. Fun day! And good timing to be with one of the kiddos on Mother’s Day – it just worked out well!

On Monday morning, I had a dentist appointment scheduled for a cleaning, but that had to be canceled, so I will have to make another appointment elsewhere. I finished laundry, reorganized the van, did some computer work, walked both dogs, and caught up with a few other details. And I got my new camera! When Toni had a break in her schedule, we went out for an early dinner to celebrate her 28th birthday a couple days ahead of time.

Then I hit the road to continue my journey. Tennessee is going to be State #33. All of the eastern seaboard states are done, and Tennessee will be my “gateway” state to the midwest. But I had to drive through Georgia to get there, and I made it to the north side of Atlanta before stopping for the night. The Tennessee border wasn’t far away!