Ain't they cute
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 9:20 AM
I got to sleep in all the way until 5:20 AM this morning. This is the worst part of road trips. You have to spend so much time on the road. We breakfasted at Bob Evans before we left. Like last night the food was good and the portions large.
Group Portrait. This was one of the first thins we did when we arrived. We didn't want to forget to take a few pictures.
At this moment we are in Illinois, on I-64 E, about 20-30 miles from the Indiana border. Our ultimate destination is Ashland, KY.
Margo had to stop to throw up again. We still have no idea what is causing this and we are probably going to have to get it looked at. Hopefully it will clear up on its own or doesn’t get to point where we have to find an emergency room. That was one of two incidents we have had crossing Illinois. About 10 miles ago, which with Margo’s lead foot means about 5 minutes ago, I had just started writing this entry when I glanced up. I don’t know why I looked up, but when I did I see this tire zipping across the median, in a diagonal from the other side of the road.
The Last Four--Dad (Earl) Ann, Ellen and Delbert. We all knew this would be the last time they would ever see each other. Dad and Delbert both passed in 2005. Aunt Ann died in 2007. Only Aunt Ellen is left as of April 2008
I could tell instantly that it wasn’t going to hit us, so I didn’t scream look out or anything. I just pointed and said look at that. Margo had been checking the rear and side mirrors at that point, and our back seat passengers where either sleeping or just relaxing. The point being no one else sees this. Margo looks at where I’m pointing but the tire had continued on its course and had already crossed behind us. She just looks at me with a look of “What the hell are you talking about” and I yammer on for a few minutes. “Really a tire.” Shrug of the shoulder and she relaxes back into her seat. I did too see a tire without a car cross the highway.
I don’t think we are going to make very good time today. Margo has had to stop twice so far and it’s only coming up on 10 AM. She is wondering if she doesn’t have some sort of bug.
Back-Arielle, Jessi, Margo, Aunt Ann & Aunt Ellen. Seated Mom and Kristen
I’m estimating that we are about 45 minutes behind schedule. If we don’t make up some of it I have to call Aunt Ellen with an updated time. She, and the rest of the family are expecting us, and she is cooking dinner for us tonight.
Continued….
We made up most of the time and got to Aunt Ellen’s at 5:06 PM. They were all pretty impressed that I was able to estimate our arrival time with in 6 minutes. Lot of luck on that one. It was sure nice to see everyone again. Aunt Ellen (Dad’s sister) had hardly changed at all. But Dad’s other living sister, Aunt Ann, had gotten very thin.
Uncle Bill
She looks like she has been sick. I didn’t come out and ask, but the rest (which includes Uncle’s Tom and Bill) hinted enough that we knew she had been. I think they are a little scared about it. Dad’s brother, Uncle Johnnie, had died three months ago, and one of Dad’s nephews, Earl Edward, had just died too. These things seem to run in threes, so with Dad’s recent stroke and Ann’s illness, I think health was a subject they preferred to steer clear of.
When we arrived at Aunt Ellen and Uncle Tom’s place, Aunt Ann & Uncle Bill were there too, obviously. Joining them was the only other surviving sibling, Uncle Delbert. There were nine children born to my grandmother. One died as a child. The other eight, of whom Dad is the baby, all lived long lives. Two Aunts, the two who practically raised my Dad, after his father was killed in mining accident when he was two, died within a week of each other in 1983.
Uncle Delbert
The brother closest to Dad in age had died in 1995. That was the year after we last visited, when we couldn’t talk Dad into going. He has hated to travel ever since he got out of the service. But with his own mortality staring him in the face, he made up his mind he had to go home once more. I already mentioned Uncle Johnnie passing in March, so that left just these four siblings left. Uncle Delbert was not doing so well. He would celebrate his 83rd birthday in two days, and years of cigarettes and alcohol had taken their toll. He was barely ambulatory and the loss of his larynx years ago had already robbed him of speech.
The only other person there, for now anyways, was Kristen, Aunt Ellen’s great-granddaughter, age 12. She and the girls went off to discuss the mall and boys. We all sat down shortly after arrival and had a very nice dinner. Afterwards we talked and visited until 10 PM.
Uncle Tom
Uncle Bill and Aunt Ann took Uncle Delbert home, and we said our good byes too. Everyone was tired, but Dad was holding up really well. He doesn’t show it very much, but he was glad to be back home.
The hotel for us was the Best Western River Cities. It’s pretty new and turned out to be a great choice. The pool was open late, so Jessi and Arielle took advantage of that. Margo and I set about taking care of our nightly budget duties.
Most people are going to think this a bit strange, but we have developed a system with respect to the money we spend. I spend months researching and planning each of our vacations each year. We plan an itinerary, compute costs, identify and reserve hotels, and budget money for everything. It’s a bit anal, but it minimizes surprises and maximizes what we are able to see and do. It is very rare that there is something nearby that we could have seen, that we should have seen, that we didn’t see. Plus the money is already allocated for it, and we don’t go into debt to make it happen. That is the part that most people say, “Yeah, that makes sense. It’s smart to know what there is to do and how much it will cost” The part that messes with everyone’s mind is the itinerary part. They look at my spreadsheet and it say “9AM to 10:30 AM—tour the Arch. And they say, but I don’t want to get locked into a set time to start of finish or even what to do. First off, I explain, the schedule is dynamic and mostly just to allot time and order. It’s just like money, you only have so much of it, so you have to budget it too. If you want to see the Arch, and the Old Courthouse, and the St Louis Zoo, and take a riverboat cruise, you have to know how much time they take, when the tours are, and how long they are open. Otherwise you show up and find out this is closed or that takes so much time you can’t do something else. If it turns out you are having a great time at the zoo, and you would rather skip the riverboat, then "Fine, we skip it", but at least we had the option. It has worked very well for us. When we went to Disney World, we never waited in line more than 45 minutes for any ride. Most were 20-30. If you have ever been to Disney World, in the summer, you already know how incredible that sounds. I got advice on which rides to do first and to get their early.
Anyway, back to the routine. At then end of each night we record what we spent, from the receipts we have gotten, and see how we are doing in comparison to what we budgeted. We can see if we are spending too much on food or souvenirs and make adjustments. We also can use this as a tool to plan next year’s vacation. We almost always come in under budget, because we over allocate a bit, and already know what we will spend on the attractions.
But, it does take some time, so after finishing unpacking and relaxing in front of the TV some we still didn’t get to bed until about midnight. Tomorrow we would be driving to Van Lear, KY to see the little town where Dad was born and his Dad died.
