Well, y'all - we're home now. I apologize for not updating sooner, or responding to comments or reading other blogs. When we finally arrived in North Carolina, I never even turned on my laptop. I just relaxed and decompressed and chilled.
I needed the respite.
As we were driving home from the lake, The Geezer (car, not Mr. W) decided to have a hissy fit and the a/c broke. We found a car repair shop that was open on Saturday and took it in. The mechanic told us that the air conditioning compressor needed to be replaced.
We were not happy about spending more money on The Geezer, but we did it. The Geezer seemed to be working fine and we made plans to return home the next day.
Our final evening in Michigan was spent with Mr. Wonderful's family - grilling Copper River Salmon and enjoying the lovely weather...
Apparently, Mr. Wonderful's family was SO impressed that we drove 22 hours to visit them that they decided to set off some fireworks in the yard to celebrate...
The next morning we left bright and early (really, really early - 6:30 am!) and set off on the next leg of our odyssey. All was going well until we stopped off at an exit in Crittendon, Kentucky to take a break and refuel. When we got back in The Geezer and started it up, all hell broke loose. Literally. The Geezer's serpentine belt broke, which meant that the battery power was dying and there wasn't power steering and it smelled funny and was hot and fluid was pooling under the car. And other mechanical type stuff that I didn't understand. Crap!
And did I mention that it was really, really hot?
Thankfully, before I could join The geezer in having my own little hissy fit, a good samaritan named Heath stopped and saved the day. This wonderful, fabulous young man drove to the nearest auto parts store in the next town and got a replacement belt and put it on for us.
Sadly, when we started the car up again, the a/c didn't sound (or smell) very healthy so we decided, reluctantly, that we should disconnect the a/c and drive the remaining 7 hours the old fashioned way - with the windows rolled down.
I really don't have anything else to say about the ensuing hot, sweaty, miserable ride that day. Except that it pretty much sucked.
The kids were good sports and The Princess managed to find an activity that kept her pleasantly amused. Luckily, her big brother is a good sport and endured the activity patiently.
Thankfully, that hot, sweaty, miserable ride finally ended when we arrived back at GG's place in North Carolina, which seemed like an oasis of calm, cool tranquility.
We spent three days in North Carolina where we relaxed and I took a gazillion pictures. I realize that gazillion isn't actually a word, thank you spell-check. I don't care. It sounds like the amount of photos that I have been perusing for this post. Good grief. I've learned that I am completely enamored of taking photos in taxidermy stores...
And I am absolutely enthralled with taking photos of barns, and flowers, and waterfalls, and trees and moss and of The Princess shooting peas at squirells - who are totally oblivious to her efforts to scare them away.
Also, I like to take photos of mountain vistas, and lakes, and hummingbirds and rocks and stuff...
And also of houses with life sized, fake cows in the front yard that make me giggle!
GG, The Princess and I spent a fun day in Brevard browsing through the fun, quirky shops and enjoying a sweet treat at the Soda Shop...
We completely enjoyed our mountain idyll, especially since Tropical Storm Debby was soaking Florida with torrents of rain!
Mr. W and I spent a few hours soaking up the quirky vibe of Asheville while getting The Geezer checked out, again, and getting the all clear to take the beast/money pit/Geezer back on the road to return home...
We're home now and our odyssey has ended.
It's back to reality today with grocery shopping, laundry, and needy animals and all the fun chores of getting back into a routine after almost two weeks away - plus clean up from the mess Tropical Storm Debby made of the yard!
