November 4, 2009. Canyon Lake, Tx. Travelling.

Today we begin our long march home to Maryland. Our intention is to spend the late afternoon and dinner with David and Suzanne and the girls, then leave for Jackson early evening and drive for a few hours, staying at some nice motel for the night. Early in the morning we will start out and finish the drive. It takes about ten hours for the trip and we have discovered that eight hours driving is much easier that ten, so we will begin tonight. After Christmas with Andrew and Christina and the girls, we will drive the same path with Kate and Mary Frances, where we all have a festive time with the cousins at the ranch. Our plan with the girls is the same, to break up the ten hours into two parts, and meet everyone at the ranch on Dec. 28. All the girls are excited.

Yesterday, our plans almost came crashing down. Driving through Fredericksburg on a by-pass road, with no traffic in sight, a Sheriff's car entered from a side road on this main road, without looking in any direction, certainly not at us. He was on his phone and neither looked nor stopped at the stop sign. Fortunately, no car was beside us, so we were able to swerve around him but I believe we missed him by an inch. Stupid man. Eternal vigilance is required for a car trip. Now we head out to begin to drive north, expecting to arrive on Sunday after a day with the family in Jackson.

On the drive down to Texas, I was startled to note on the map that when we were passing Memphis, we were only a few hours from Jackson, so Ken suggested we stop on the way home. Of course we also want to see our new condo, which now has a new bed. It is ready for us, and God willing, we will get there in one piece!!