Comfort Inn Birmingham

... I guess by being realistic I should succumb to the fact that I WILL be homesick at some point so it might as well be right in the beginning. I think I've found some really cool people to stay with my first two weeks abroad, so I think they will aid in distracting me from feeling alone and scared so far away from home. Well, that's all I have to say for now. My next post will be from London! 'Till then...

xo,
jenna p.

... over it. Now the fruit bin is what holds my wonder, if it exists that morning. I long for a green apple or appropriately ripe banana. Sadly, they are usually soft red mealy apples or maybe brown bananas... again, if they actually have fruit that morning.

I am over my daily ration of bread line breakfast. I need more. I love breakfast too much.

Oh, how I long for eggs. Real scrambled eggs. And bacon. And homefries...

We had a one night stop over in Moody. We passed Talladega raceway on the way there but as it was a longer drive we didn't stop off along the way. We also got held up in our first traffic jam. A truck had gone off the interstate and crashed. Delayed us by about 40 minutes. The Super 8 wasn't the worst or the best motel but we both slept well after dinner at Cracker Barrell.

... otherwise I’d still be at the train station. Soon after arriving I took a headache tablet and immediately felt like I was going to throw up. I was then unable to get up out of bed. So I slept from about 1pm to 7pm and then again from 11.30pm to 8.30am. I am feeling much better this morning and now just have normal cold like symptoms. I think I will just stay in the hotel and do some washing, basically taking it easy and saving my energy for the trip to Memphis in the morning.

A few days ago we realized that the day we leave, marked in our brains as Memorial Day, comes a week earlier than we'd been thinking. Oops. At least we saw the light soon enough so we won't miss the flight. (Memorial Day this early in May feels very odd.) This trip is no big deal but will serve well as a test travel blog. Something to play with between meetings and meals.

A little over a week and we'll be on the road! Our Volkswagen Eurovan Camper is just about ready; it's getting a new "kitchen" water pump tomorrow and then we'll actually start loading it up. We'll be traveling pretty light: the Porta-Potty, one roller bag each, one sleeping bag and Therma-Rest each, one pillow each, a new Coleman grill/stove so we don't have to ...

... GUESS WHO WON...ME, YEAH!! THE NEXT MORNING WE ATE BREAKFAST. THEN WE CHECKED OUT AND HEADED TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENS. BESIDES SEEING ALL OF THE PLANTS AND SOME WILD LIFE WE, ALSO, TOOK ONE OF THE TRAILS. THE GARDENS WERE VERY PRETTY. WHAT I LIKED THE MOST THERE WAS THIS HUGH ALOE PLANT. THEN
WE HEADED ON HOME. ANOTHER WONDERFUL SHORT TRIP FOR TWO SENIORS! THANKS, FATHER!

We flew into Birmingham, AL to pick up an RV. Tres and his crew have already missed their flight causing us to spend the night here. No problemo... the cabbie dropped us off at the liquor store in the Ghetto. After a few beers we went shopping at Wal Mart. It was probably the best time I have ever had in a Wal Mart.

... feel through the cracks for the person taking over my job. I think we got everything covered and now I wish them the best of luck with the PFM lite Phase 1, 1B, 2 project :) We have also been using this week to rest a lot, play a bunch of pool, and read up on some of the locations we are going to.