Our March trip was a visit to Evansville Indiana to celebrate Art's (Jan's dad) 97th birthday.
But before our trip north we headed south. For one of my varied aliments I see Dr. Castro at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston Florida. I can't say enough good things about the Doctors and staff of the Cleveland Clinic. Every time I visit I am made to feel that my care is their first thought. Also there is some great artwork on display through out the clinic. I really enjoy seeing all the art on the walls. And I got a good review by the Doctor!
After visiting Weston we headed north via the Florida Turnpike. Jan and I traveled the entire length of the Turnpike. All 312 miles of it. Along the way we passed several Turnpike Travel Centers. These advertised gas and food as well as restrooms. We decided to stop and give it a try. These are really big rest stops. They are in between the north and south roads so if you don't pay attention or get a little confused when leaving you could end up going the wrong way. We almost did.
On the turnpike there was offered 5 or more different restaurants but when we got there only 3 were open. These three were also very lightly staffed. So we had a very long wait for a simple order of burgers and fries.
Needless to say if we travel the turnpike again we will find other places for lunch.
Heading north to Evansville we had to travel through Atlanta. This trip was surprisingly easy through that traffic hub in Georgia. Usually there is some traffic hold-up. Last time we drove through Atlanta it added about 4 hours to our trip. This time we hardly had to slow down. Not sure why but I'll take it.
During our time in Evansville we celebrated two birthdays. My brother-in-law Tim and my Father-in-law. The main event was Art's 97 birthday. Yea Tim turned 62 but the big show was 97th birthday. Art is getting closer to getting his picture on a jar of jam!
For his birthday we had lots of cards and gifts as well as pineapple upside-down cake. We also zoomed in with family who couldn't make the party to sing "Happy Birthday" I ate a little extra cake for them!
Art had 4 of his 7 kids present to celebrate his birthday. During covid that is a good showing. We did practice covid safety and wore masks except while eating or taking pictures and tried to sit at a safe distance from each other. Most of us have had one or more of the vaccine shots.
While we were there Jan was in charge of checking out the new power scooter that Art got through the VA. It is really a very nice "electric chair" as Art calls it. As you can see Jan gives it her stamp of approval.
On Thursday we celebrated Tim's birthday with a chocolate cake with white icing. We had a lot of birthdays this trip.
The trip home was fairly uneventful till we got to Adel Georgia. There we decided to stop for gas and a bite to eat. From the interstate exit 39 looked hopeful. Several gas stations and fast food spots. So we pulled in and went to the side that had the most offerings.
We got to the gas station and filled up and looked down from there and saw three different restaurants.
Jan thought she wanted some vegetables so we parked and went to the Zoku Hibachi restaurant. When we went in and waited in line. And waited. During this wait time I had a chance to look around. Hummm? Not the cleanest I've seen and ooh the floor is kinda sticky. And there is a family with young kids running around playing in the drink machine.
Ok there are two other options and life is short, maybe shorter if we stay here.
So we moved on to the next option. Captain D. Seafood is a healthy choice! We went in and got in line. And waited. And waited. There was much action behind the counter. People talking quietly to each other and messing with the registers. But no food coming out and the line getting longer. Apparently the cash registers had crashed and were not coming back...
Ok on to the third spot. Burger King. I could tell Jan was hungry because she never chooses Burger King, something about the creepy king on their commercials. So in we go and just like Goldilocks the third time was a charm.
While we were waiting Jan struck up a conversation with the girl in line before us and she recommended the Jalapeño Cheddar Bites. I ordered those along with my burger and they were not bad. Even shaped like little jalapeño poppers.
So exit 39 will now be on my list of spots to pass on by.
January 6, 2020 was my last day of work. I remember that it was rather anticlimactic. It was the day after Winter Break and a teacher work day. Everyone at work had just come back and it was a non-student day. I was there because if you work one day in a month our health insurance covers you for that month, If you have ever priced insurance a month is worth working a day. So after a number of very nice parties celebrating my retirement. (I know that is a strange concept now, getting together in large groups for any reason. ) I had a few weeks to just relax, sit back and contemplate my future. Ummm what should I do? I thought it would be sleep late and watch late night TV. No! My body had other plans . Even without the need to get up and go to work I was still waking up early and getting sleepy around 10 pm. I guess my body was having a hard time adjusting to this new life style. The nearly 40 years of work had taken it's toll. I realized I would never be able to go back to my 20...
Back at the end of December I wrote about a quest I was planning to go on after I retired. A food quest of various seafood restaurants I have heard about. I have these restaurants saved on my Yelp account Collections called " Seafood Restaurants I'm Gonna Eat At ." Some on the list I already eat at regularly. Others are new and I'm waiting to try them. Today I tried a new one. Happy's Bayou Bites located near downtown Dunedin. A small unassuming food truck converted into an outdoor restaurant. It is located just off of Skinner Boulevard at the corner of Howard Avenue. There are 4 picnic tables and just enough parking for that. Jan and I went there with her sisters and their husbands. Tom and Becky, Patty and Bill we were all celebrating Valentines day and this was a nice place to do that and have lunch. Jan had the fried catfish basket and I had the chicken and sausage gumbo. Jan said the fish was very good, light breading and flaky moist fish. She cleaned ...
For the past week or so Jan and I have been visiting her dad and sister in Evansville In. Or as Art calls it Heavinsville. We came up originally to help Mary with her house. She is painting and carpeting several rooms. Because of Covid Jan's dad Art has moved from his apartment into Mary's house. We came down to help Art while he stayed with us at a hotel and the house got recarpeted. Well that all went sideways first day at the hotel. Art who is 96 started feeling poorly and eventually it was decided to call an ambulance to transport him to the emergency room for, as my daughter calls it a little heart tune-up. It was quite an adventure having a firetruck and ambulance arrive at our hotel and all crowd into our room. At the hospital because of Covid only one other person was allowed in and it was decided that Jan would stay and I would head back to Mary's house. Now a funny story of events before the ambulance arrived. I had gone to take a rest in our hotel room whil...
So many adventures on your trip!! Can’t believe Art is 97, he makes it look easy, right??! 🥳 Glad y’all made it back home safely! 🏝😄
ReplyDeleteEvansville (or as Art calls it "Heavensville") is always an adventure.
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