Awake: 7:37am Sleep 7+27 flurries with some sun overnight @ Indiana, PA.
The Super 8 motel breakfast was well received by us these past (2) weeks. It was always a good start for the day’s activity & we rarely needed any grub before the dinner meal @ the Foote Castle; dinner there was usually served between 2:00 & 3:00pm.
After checking out, saying our goodbyes to the morning motel group, loading suitcases into the van, we again head toward the Foote Castle with a stop @ Ollie’s Bargain Outlet to check for the “Firefox for Dummies” manual. “Not yet” says the clerk.
We both spend some time with little Nathan; supporting his stance & strengthening his legs. Katrina, Eriko & Nick have been busy packing before dinner.
Dinner made by Melissa: Chili-Mac, homemade corn bread & salad.
@ 2:30pm, Kevin finishes loading the Toyota van with suitcases & bags; then makes the announcement: “All aboard!” We say our goodbyes & love + thanks to Melissa for her good meal planning, comfort etc, & give our love to Matthew but can’t find Andrew. A few minutes later, Katrina finds him playing alone with the Brio train track on the 3rd floor. Of course, we give Andrew our love & goodbyes also. Every yr this family gathering becomes more meaningful for us, we hope it can & will continue to grow stronger.
Not mentioning any names, but just before walking out the door, someone had the nerve to comment to the cook about being served Chili just before riding (45) min in a tight & crowded Toyota van, then flying in a rather small & loaded airplane for an hr. Melissa commented: “Gee, I never gave that a thought!” I for one was mighty suspicious.
The boys had sober faces as we waved goodbye to them from our speeding Toyota.
About (50) min later @ the Latrobe airport, we ditto our thanks to Kevin for making our stay & visits most comfortable, relaxing & gastronomically satisfying. Security was efficient & quite thorough. They opened Kathy’s suitcase to further inspect something & realized it was ok. A tail wind shrunk our flight time down to (45) min to Detroit.
In the “A” terminal, Eriko suggested to Nick she would like a snack before flying to Seattle. Good idea we all thought & Katrina had time to join us for a mini gathering before her flight schedule time also. Go figure: we all had….more pizza.
Nick, Eriko, Jerry & we had basically the same departure area; (1) gate away, so we hung out together for an additional (30-40) min. One thing I want to mention about Jerry & how expressive he has been; anything that he really enjoys doing or seeing is quickly followed by his exclamation, “OH MAN!” He is so cute & such a happy fellow.
Our flight from Detroit to Las Vegas was uneventful except for the sluggish departure from the gate. Northwest was running about (20) min late. Before block-out occurred, I called Gary in Pahrump to notify him of our delay.
Good for us, when strolling thru the massive crowd between the baggage Carousels, Gary & Rosemary found us before we found them. Even though Gary gave me explicit instructions, I felt lost in the almost maddening crowd.
We thank Rosemary & Gary for their friendship & assistance with our holiday rendezvous, drop them off @ their home on wheels & then a grocery shopping we will go; stocking up the cupboards with the essentials. When entering our coach, everything is just the way we left it; the exception was: I asked Gary to bump up the thermostat for our late arrival. He did & our home on wheels was nice & toasty; it’s good to be back in our home again.
Lights out: 1:32am
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