As Gomer Would Say..."Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!"

Sorry about the deception but Joan and I made a couple of decisions 2 weeks ago and decided to keep them quiet until we could execute a couple of surprises on our families. So after week 3 of Amazon we decided to take Johnny's advice (Johnny Paycheck that is) to say "Take this job and..........." After 240 hours of standing in a noisy assembly line we decided we'd had enough. Joan had tried every pair of shoes she owned; we had bought the expensive Dr. Scholls inserts; Joan had even gone so far as to purchase an expensive pair of shoes commonly used by nurses with springs in the heel and soles; all to no avail. Joan was miserable and I wasn't feeling that good myself. We talked about whether we could finish the entire holiday season and knew that we would  not be enjoying life the next 6 weeks if we tried. So we decided to start our holiday trip back to Florida early. We went into Amazon HR the next day, submitted our resignations and headed towards warmer climates.

We drove to Las Vegas and set up in a campground intending to research storage options there and in Tuscon hoping to avoid having to winterize the MH. Since we're working in Colorado next summer we elected to leave the MH out west and only take the car back east. After speaking with the campground manager they offered us an intriguing option; leave the MH there parked in a site with power for the frig and heated water bay. The MH would be located between 2 long-term tenants of the park and directly across the driveway from 2 park employee's homes. And the rate was better than the majority of quotes we'd already gotten. OK!

While we were in Vegas we did some of the touristy things. We visited the Lake Mead Recreation area and took a tour of Hoover Dam. We drove the strip and you should have seen the line of people waiting to get into the Pawn Stars shop! It's amazing the affect TV has on folks. We also got to visit with Joan's cousin Theresa and her husband Brian. We went out for a great steak dinner and they took us up to a lodge in the mountains for after dinner drinks. We're planning to see them again when we return to pick up the MH; maybe even get in a little off-roading in their extreme 4X4 jeep. We finished prepping the MH and bikes for storage; making sure the batteries were charged and adding fuel stabilizer. Packed up the car and headed east.

Most of Joan's Family
(there were only 27 attending)

Joan is the oldest of 7 siblings and all 5 brothers. her sister, their spouses and children, her mom and dad were traveling to Alabama for a Thanksgiving reunion. We hoped it would be great fun to surprise them. After 4 days of driving we arrived at her brother's house near the reunion site in Alabama. And as everyone showed up over the next few days we did manage to surprise them; all but one who heard about Joan being there from someone who's name will be withheld to protect their safety.

Doug, Steve, Sue

Our original plan was to surprise my family in Atlanta the week after Thanksgiving as they were all meeting in NC for the holiday. My sister and my oldest son live in Atlanta and my parents would be driving through there, staying with my sister for a couple days after Thanksgiving. But fate stepped in and gave us another wonderful opportunity.

Jim, Erin, Vickie, David

The plans for them to spend Thanksgiving in NC had to be changed and all of them met in Atlanta instead. My son and DIL's house is only 90 miles from Joan's brother's so about an hour after eating with Joan's family we jumped in the car and drove to Atlanta to surprise my family. When we arrived everyone happened to be on the back deck so we clandestinely walked around the house and stepped around the corner and smiled! My sister was stunned; I thought she was going to fall down. And my parents were really surprised as well. We spent the rest of the afternoon with my family.


Our plans now are to spend a couple more days in Alabama; then a couple of days in Atlanta before heading to Florida. We'll be in Florida through Christmas and then head back to Vegas.

Stay Tuned. More to Come.