So, just to update everyone, we are once again on the road heading north on I-95.  As we write this, we are in a Quality Inn in Ridgeland, South Carolina.  We left our home for 5 days, Disney’s Port Orleans, French Quarter, yesterday morning.  Our first stop was Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie to watch our second NY Mets Spring Training game.  Yesterday they played the St Louis Cardinals, and our seats just to the first base side of home plate, put us squarely in Cardinals’ territory, but the fans were nice, and we had a good time.  Of course, it didn’t hurt that the Mets won the game 7-2, so our Spring Training record is 1-1!  It was fun to see the Mets play at their home Spring Training venue, but we have to admit that Disney does do it better (big surprise), as the stadium and everything else was better at the Braves Walt Disney World/ESPN home base.

Once we finally got out of the parking lot…no offense, but there were 6000 people there yesterday, about half of them left before the game was over,  and we have less trouble getting out of Citifield when there are 40,000 fans in attendance…we headed up the coast, to visit with Frank’s cousin Jeanne and her husband Walt.  Jeanne is the daughter of Frank’s Mom’s younger brother Bill, and she is just a couple of years older than him.  But, because she grew up in Chicago and Frank in New York, they were not really close cousins.  But, thanks to the Internet, they re-connected and continued a relationship that really hadn’t been active since Jeanne and Walt came to our wedding 36+ years ago.  Honestly, we think the GPS was getting back at us for ignoring some of the directions she’d given us during the previous week, but eventually she did route us in the right direction, and we got to their house in Bare Foot Bay, Florida.  Can you think  a better name for a town in Florida?  Sounds very Jimmy Buffettish to us, and a perfect name!

We had a great evening with them, just talking and exchanging ideas and thoughts, and had a great home cooked steak dinner, which is always nice in the middle of a road trip. We all sat around the dinner table talking way into the night, but with some drinks, and good food, and the feeling of family, it was a wonderful night. Frankly, we got up this morning, and just continued the gab fest, and didn’t leave till almost noon.  It was a great visit (thanks Jeanne and Walt) and we can’t wait to see them again, but next time in Ocean City!  That will be after they take their own road trip, as they are going to their home base in Connetecuit, via Texas and Route 66 starting in May.

So here we are, about 21 miles into South Carolina, and we figure about 12 hours from Mineola.  We just had a really great Southern dinner on the back porch of restaurant just across the parking lot called Jasper’s Porch (now we can say we have had collard greens), and it was a great night. We will have a couple of vodkas now, as we watch a little TV, and then it will be off to bed.  Tomorrow is another day, and we will travel through South and North Carolina, and up into Virginia.  We figure one more night on the road, then it’s Chinese take out, Grey Goose Vodka, the last episode of Downton Abbey, and our couch in Mineola!

Its been a great trip, and we’ve relearned some things that we will definitely use again on our big road trip of the USA this summer.  One thing we’ve definitely learned, we still love being together 24/7, and love car trips!  Let the adventures continue!!!