H - O - M - E

We are home.  I hope I don't jinx Debby.  She isn't quite home yet.  She is at the airport and should be boarding her plane within the next half hour for the flight home.  Denise, Matt and Emma will be picking her up at the airport.

I imagine Emma will be thrilled.  When we talked to Denise last Sunday afternoon she told us Emma had gotten up Sunday morning saying "It's Sunday; Debby's coming home!  It's Sunday; Debby's coming home!"  She was quite disappointed to learn that it was the FOLLOWING Sunday that Debby would be home.

The drive from Ocean City yesterday was a good final day trip of just under 350 miles.  I had not briefed Debby on the route via the Chesapeak Bay Bridge Tunnel.  I figured there was no reason to cause premature angst about the tunnels.  As we were approaching the toll booth, we were fishing for money, but the signs had not stated the toll amount.  I told her it would probably be at least five bucks.  She asked why it was so high since most tolls we had encountered had been about a buck.  I mentioned that the bridge and tunnel were big.  When we got to the toll booth and the sign said $12.00 she was surprised.  I mentioned again that it was big.  Then we got to the bridge and you can't see the end.   Ok, so far.  Then she asked whether we would be only taking the bridge or the tunnel.  I said both and that they are big.  :-)   Once we got in the first tunnel, I couldn't resist -- I told her to let me know if she say in water leaking down the walls.  Debby's description of going into the tunnels was "a descent into hell."  I told her it wasn't fire she needed to worry about, it was water!  In a nutshell, the bridge/tunnel is 20 miles long and each tunnel is about a mile long.  It made the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" a lot more meaningful.

The evening was full of visits.  Mom H. came over for a little while and we got "welcome home hugs."  Then we had dinner out with Michael and Natalie.  We stopped by Michael's home to check out his little garden that I had watered while he was at camp (before our trip).  They have harvested a few tomatoes and jalapeno peppers.  The green pepper plant and the cantaloupe vines haven't produced yet.  They have basil overtaking the oregano and one of the sunflowers has bloomed.

At home we played pinball.  By the time we headed for the airport this morning, Debby had regained her pinball playing form and was winning some free games.

What's next?

The immediate future is back to work for both of us.  We gotta' pay the bills.  Debby has been instructed by me to stop working those 12 hour days.  She will be working on getting her house on the market with her official move to Denise's house.  My church has it's first "Children's Church" next week.  I'm supposed to help so I need to check in with our Family's Ministry director and find out what I am suppossed to be doing.

The short term future is our Brockett Babes Beach Trip in just 2 months.  So we'll be back together for a week in September.

And next year's trip?  We're not sure yet.  With Leslie's location in Couer d'Alene, Idaho, there are two routes that could be possibilities -- parts of US Route 2 (Theodore Roosevelt Highway/The Great Northern Route) from Seattle, Washington to Bar Harbor, Maine or parts of Highway 93 (Border to Border) from Jasper National Park in Canada to Nogales, Arizona (and Mexico).  Or we might just plant our bottoms on a beach somewhere.

So happy trails to you for another year.