Day 9 - EPILOGUE / SUMMARY

HOME SWEET HOME
3,125 Miles and 54 hours driving --- We Made It Home!!! Reunions with the grandkids were awesome.
In Florence, SC, We had a yummy Holiday Inn Express breakfast, which the sausage gravy doesn't measure up to that at Gail's Cafe (have you noticed that all food is compared to that served at the "world famous" Gail's Cafe) The customers in Old Town are truly blessed

During our drive home, we began to think of a few funny things that happened on our trip. Most are from Gail's perspective, but I may have to clarify things to give an objective point of view.

In NYC, the girls were taken in by a con artist hot dog vendor while Bob and I were dropping of the van in NJ. 2 hot dogs and 2 bottles of soda totaled $12.00. Everyone else paid $8.00, but not our naive girls from Florida. Gail figured that each hot dog cost the vendor about .07 cents at most. Needless to say, she wasn't a "happy camper" once the evidence was eaten and she figured out the true cost by prices that other vendors had displayed. Jean in her best "Madonna" style said with her angelic smile, "Its Okay"

Also, NYC is not known for numerous public bathrooms or places to sit and relax (of course Gail didn't make it to Central Park or the tons of place to sit in the steamy subway stations). So you better have good bladder control, which you know is not always possible in your "50's"(especially when you birth "big-headed" kids, thanks John!)

Dave has definitely earned his tour guide flag. He knew where he was going at all time, unfortunately the rest of the groups didn't. Sometimes we were just spinning around like a dervish, but Dave would make a drill instructor proud "hup 2...3....4, hup...2....3...4" Bob being the "protective gentleman" usually covered the rear guard position behind Jean and Gail.. sometimes too far back that he had to call out to Dave from 1/2 block back to close the ranks.

As you all may know, we had a loss while we were gone. It weighed heavy on our hearts, especially our "Gentle Giant" Bob. Until the rest of us realized that "Do-Do Head" should not have had it with him. Of course, we're talking about the "infamous" Boy Scout knife. Bob says that if he has his pants on, he has a knife in his pocket.... well he now he has no knife- should he have his pants on.. After much pleading (and crying from Jean), we convinced him to keep his pants on. Bob rationalized that he got his knife back when he went to the Empire State Building. Dave went on to explain that the ESB is privately owned... the Statue of Liberty is "Federally" owned and operated as a National Monument by the U.S. Park Service. Even after we got back to mainland, Dave talked to one of the Park Service Officers, trying to use is law enforcement influence.. but to no avail, obviously they don't think too highly of lowly deputy sheriffs. PS: Dave did have his SWAT knife as a back-up so Gail could carve her apples. He had it, because he left it in the room. :::Remember::: "Pennies For Bob"

NY is "real proud" of their sodas. We found a some at about $1.79, but mostly paid $2.50 and up. I guess that was a good thing, because of the limited restrooms available, it limits the number of sodas or anything else you drink.

Gail started out the trip in Old Town with a stash of vanilla sugar wafers. She really, really liked them. After much "begging" she finally shared with us. She had to replenish her stash at least twice at WalMart stops. On the homeward stretch and about 1/2 way through SC, Gail was literally throwing them at us. Let's just say that sugar wafers in Old Town are safe from her now.... for the time being anyway.

Jean said through all the wonderful states that we visited, all she wanted for a souvenir, and it was free / wouldn't cost us a cent; except a couple nights in jail, was the nice, soft, green northern grass. NO not the smoking kind Bob and Dave, but the mowing kind. If David could have figured how to manage it without throwing everything out of the back of the van, he would have hauled back a pallet of that green stuff, just for her. Awwww how romantic!!!

We have seen gas (smelled a little too, but the guys won't own up to it, blamed that on skunks) prices as low as $2.19 per gallon and as high in northern NY as $2.79.

During the trip, we began a running tally of "live" animals that we saw along the road. Jean started it out officially in either NC or VA, by shouting at the top of her lungs.. DEEEEERRRR!!! After David got the van back on the road, we continued the game. Because he was driving, Dave got a handicap portion of our animal spottings. Here's the official totals, Jean had 2 deer, 1 chipmunk, 1 rabbit. David had 2 deer and 1 rabbit by himself. Bob had 2 chipmunks, 1 rabbit, 1 coyote. Gail had 14 deer (12 were concrete yard deer) and 1 rabbit.
This total doesn't count all the "wildlife" we saw in NYC. Especially the lady being body painted in the street at Times Square and was 3/4 undressed (only had on string bikini bottom). The tour bus guide kept telling everyone on the top deck of the tour bus to sit down while the bus was moving. Never saw so many flashes going off, short of New Years Eve. On older "very senior" lady kept on standing, and straining to see the half naked woman either in awe or envy. Bob has a picture (private stash) of this public spectacle in case anyone wants to see it FREE??? Yeah right, Bob says "for a fee" you can see it. Remember the lost knife, Yeah.. its part of the fundraising campaign to by another priceless BSA knife.

Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or Slim Fast have nothing on the Bill McKinley Weight Loss Plan. You have heard about his 4th floor walk up apartment. Remember, No elevator.... Just stairs.. and more stairs.... and more stairs.... and just when you thought you were at the top of a 30 story building....MORE STAIRS. When we left in the morning we didn't go back up those stairs and more dreaded stairs until the end of the night when we barely could barely drag ourselves up to the top. Gail admires a man that she has never met for doing this on a daily basis. One of our tour bus guides says that he lives in a 5th floor walk up apt, and once he goes up for his 2 days off.... he doesn't come back down. Now that's the way to do it, but he doesn't have sightseeing to do.

Whoever said that vacations aren't educational.... Well you have never been on the 'Great Tire Adventure" with Bob. Every piece of heavy equipment or machinery we saw or passed, Bob informed us of not only the tire size, but how much the tires cost and the "speed rating" for the tires. At a rest area in SC we came upon a convoy of fine upstanding Marines (according to Gail, what else is there but upstanding Marines). Anyway, coming out of the rest area bldg, we found that Bob had somehow managed to get across the invisible security line and we thought that he was thanking them for their service to our country.... Nooooooooooooooo he wanted to get close enough to their crane vehicle to see what size of tires it took. Bib (the michelin tire figure) has "nothing" on Bob.

We ate at the finest establishments. Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, McDonalds and Zaxbys. But for the "Mother of all NY Restaurants in Downtown NY-Times Square" OLIVE GARDEN!!!!! That's Right, Kellie we found it right there in NYC.... hot buttery breadsticks and all.

On the last day in NYC, Bob got his street hot dog and sausage dog. 7-Eleven has better dogs for his taste. Pizza from Carve on our first night in NYC was the one thing that impressed us... maybe we were just starved.. but it was yummy.

On a personal note, Gail said that this was very touching trip. Jean and David have held hands, Jean has curled up against him on boat ride from the Statue of Liberty. Yes, she has pictures of it, PG of course. She said that she and Bob have survived being together for not only 14 months but 9 days on the road, that's a plus.

It took a while to find, but we really had some good music on our trip, thanks to the XM radio (channel 23) in Kellie's van. We played who's singing that song and when it came out. The only thing that stumped us was that Jean and Gail could not remember the prom theme for their Ocoee HS Senior Prom. (not even David could remember and he was there with Jean)
We did have a cool moment in that SC rest area (yes! the one where Bob was drooling over the military tires). As we pulled to the curb, we started to get out and make the run for the bathrooms, the Manhattans song "Let's Just Kiss and Say Goodbye".... Jean said put it on pause, (what did she think the radio had a DVR feature??), Dave said let just enjoy such a memorable song from our youth (yes the 80'S), so we closed the door and all sang along in perfect harmony (well.... maybe not perfect.. but I'm tone deaf and it sounded good to me) Okay... you young 'uns, quit laughing, google or i-tune that song and tell me you don't like it. Gail said we were just trying to tell each other something without saying it (ha ha)

(Now in my best Michael Buffer voice) Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls..... Are You Ready? ARE YOU READY??? Live From Florence South Carolina...
Its time for THE MAIN EVENT
For 2,555 grueling miles we hauled around the Scrabble board (we even took it up the "Dreaded Stairs") But not getting into the hotel or back from sightseeing until 11pm or midnight, we never had the chance. But Sunday night was the night, we rolled into Florence around 8pm, we went to Zaxby's for dinner. We got back to the hotel, settled in the tv lounge and prepared for what turned out to be a battle of wits. David & Bob vs. Gail & Jean--
The first volley out was Jean with the word ANGELS, and it went on from there. Bob and Jean both swore they couldn't spell were coming out with words like AGENDA & FELON.... truly amazing. David was enjoying his game early on with words like QUID & DREDGE, but we discovered that in plain sight, he was using his computer to verify the spelling of words. When confronted, David has such a look of innocence that well all laughed out loud. He said "What? Am I doing something wrong?" (This is Gail's version.. but I must interject.. my 93 yr old Grandmother Tittsworth, allowed me to look in the dictionary for correct word spellings, this made for fewer challenges and time delays.. That's the way i've always played it... But I must admit, computers are better than a dictionary because it gives you spellings of words that are close to the one your looking for too :)) shhhhhh)
Gail "says" that my words got simpler like FOX & OF (Boy is her memory short... LOL) Anyway, after much back and forth, the guys finished with a score of 212 and thanks largely to Jean, the girls finished with 211. I know to some that means that the guys and "the computer" won, but the girls could be proud to have played with honor and rest on their losing laurels. David did use all of his tiles and went out 1st and got to start off the 2nd game. (we asked the girls if they wanted to cut their losses now or suffer another humiliating defeat) Yes, the guys (minus the computer) tore up the girls on the second game. That's right, 2 games to Zip... We have yet to hear the call for a "rematch", that may or may not happen... We'll keep you posted.

LADIES and GENTS.... That's about it.. It was a fun trip, lots of laughter, some amazing sights provided by both man and non-mankind, a few tears, but most of all "We Are Family"
Stay tuned and save this blog page, check back to see what other Adventures Merdie & I have made together.
So in the famous words of T-I-G-G-E-R.... TTFN (TA TA FOR NOW!!!!) :)~