Friday night we enjoyed our favorite Chinese take-out fro a place called Cyber Takee Outee.  I guess the name came from the fact that they wish to be on the cutting edge accepting orders by fax and I think on line in addition to the phone.  The food is much better than the somewhat silly name implies and it is among our favorites while in the Tampa area.  There I go, talking food again. Dirk and B were very sad about our impending departure.  Earlier in the day, Dirk heard Mary tell our neighbor she was going home tomorrow and his melancholy comment was "I did not know you were going home"  You can imagine what that does to B.  before we left to return to Briar Creek after dinner he told Mary she couldn't go home tomorrow and should stay forever.  That cinched it.  Mary was in the dumper from there on and may have cried herself to sleep.

   Saturday morning we arose before 7AM and quickly placed last belongings in the car and got on the road just after7:30AM. There was some apprehension about possibly staying a few extra days and even when on the road some discussion about jumping off at Interchanges which would facilitate a return.  even after we passed what should have been a point of no return there was thought of returning for a few days.  As a matter of fact I told Mary I would not have been surprised if she had awakened this morning and suggested we stay a few days longer, something which would have just postponed the inevitable good-byes. Each time we do this it gets harder. Perhaps someday we may pull the trigger on a move.  Until then however, home is Orland Park.  The point of getting for us an early start was to put as many miles on the car as possible.  When we make these trips, Mary does the driving. She will not allow me to drive because I don't move it fast enough. I responded that I use cruise control also but her observation is that each time a truck is near I brake, taking off cruise control.  If that is her observation I must admit I am perfectly happy to keep my mouth shut, drink my coffee and watch for an additional sign or two. Speaking of coffee we made an early an unusual stop at McDonalds (we rarely go there even on a trip)  but they do not do a bad job with breakfast.  The steak burrito is pretty good.  We kept rolling along except for an occasional gas and beverage stop and a bit over 10 hours later arrived in Chattanooga., Tn.  We got off the Interstate and grabbed the first motel we saw which happened to be a Super 8.  After putting some belongings in the room we ventured out to find some vittles (the south you know) before settling down for the evening.  We headed for the Cracker Barrel down the street but were turned off by the packed parking lot.  Dinner time, the family style cooking and proximity to the Interstate (which is where they usually are produces quite a crowd.  There is one of the few if not the only one I have seen (away from an Interstate) is near Kathi's and we often breakfast there. Anyway failing that we headed down the road in the other direction and got some Wendy's take out, returning to settle for the evening. We felt almost home this afternoon.  I have X M Satellite Radio in the new Santa Fe and one of the great benefits is to listen to baseball from anywhere.  Unlike most networks, XM gives you the hometown broadcast.  We were able to listen to Pat Hughes and Ron Santo from Wrigley Field.  Elated (as Ron was) when they carried a 7-0 lead into the 8th and not terribly disappointed when the Giants scored 2 runs.  It was in the ninth when the Cubs bullpen particularly Carlos Marmol help the Giants score 5 to tie at 7.  For at least the next half inning there was no sound from Santo and you knew he might be outside the booth throwing things.  He has a low tolerance for dumb and made no bones about groaning when Piniella left Marmol in too long.  I agree, the major league team is no place to allow a pitcher to work out his flaws.  Class A, Double A and Triple A are the places to do that. Since we were at a Super 8, I had lowered my anticipation that there would be Wi Fi.  I am used to seeing something at the Motel's front end indicating the presence.  I guess I did not ask the clerk since I had already lowered my expectations and withdrawal had set in.  In addition, there was no indication in the room.  When we returned with dinner Mary suggested I contact the desk and ask.  What? that's like a guy asking for directions it just is NOT done.  Imagine my surprise when I turned on my computer and found not one but three different networks in the building.

   Sunday, we were on the road before 7:30 and we left amidst clouds fog and rain as we proceeded west through the mountains.  With the weather as it was we were not sure about how far we would go. However, since we had a pretty good day Saturday the hope was to leave ourselves a short day on Monday.  We soon had driven out of the crud and into the sunshine and before we knew we were in Illinois.  You know immediately you are in Illinois because almost immediately the road turns disgraceful.  Of the five states we were in on this trip, Illinois is the worst.  When we first came to Illinois some 40 years ago thousands of dollars in vehicle registration revenue was found in a shoebox in a Springfield hotel.  Seems like nothing has changed .  Oh yes I know Illinois has rough winters.  Bull! So do lots of other states that have much better roads. Do you suppose it is the hotbed of corruption.  Oh no that's not possible with our great reformer Governor.  It is from this cesspool of corruption that one of our Presidential Candidates crawled out.  Speaking of cesspools, I just saw that the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Obama.  Of course they did.  Everyone knows they will endorse the Democratic candidate no matter who is the nominee.  They are fully aware that the Democratic candidate will pour more money in their coffers.  For most of the past  40 plus years they have been shoveling money at the teachers which they have managed to squander on B.S. projects which have done nothing to improve and in many cases degraded student achievement.  However, on they go, supporting their Democratic Sugar Daddies while digging in their heels on any proposal that would require they document their skills.  In Florida this time of year there is much weeping and wailing when the State school ratings come out.

   Monday I visited the Legion coffee for the first time in a while. From there I went to the Post Office to get the held mail. Monday afternoon Mary discovered that the refrigerator was not cooling properly.  However, the freezer seemed to be working fine. This enabled her to move some things that could be frozen into the freezer.  I called Sears service and the best they could do was an appointment for Wednesday morning. Monday night we skipped the All Star Home Run Derby in favor of Monday Night sitcoms.
     Tuesday morning Mary and I had coffee together. This is somewhat unusual since Mary is usually at Curves in the morning.  However, her local curves closed while we were gone and she has not yet hooked up with one of the other area choices. Later on I made a trip to the Sportsplex for a bit of work stopping at Walgreens on the way home to pick up a styrofoam cooler and some ice to protect the last few things still in the refrigerator. Once again we skipped the all star hoopla in favor of evening TV.  It was \not until later that we became aware that we missed maybe the best All Star game in years. It was a 15 inning affair with the American League winning 4-3.

    When you have a service or delivery appointment for a 4 hour window (in this case 8AM until noon) you figure they can come at 8:10 or 11:50 but you need to be ready.  Usually you arise early and they come at the end of the time window.  We had been told that the tech would call shortly before arrival.  To our surprise, about 8:10 the tech did call stating he was 15 to 20 minutes away. Actually he arrived within 10 minutes.  When he arrived Mary explained what was going on. He said "let's take a look and appeared to confirm his diagnosis by finding a bad fan motor on the fan that moves cold air from the freezer compartment to the refrigerator.  Mary emptied the remaining items the unit was turned off and in a few minutes was up and running with anew fan motor.  Having skipped the Major League All Star game I just finished watching the Triple A All Star game.  The Pacific Coast League over came an International League 2-0 lead with 6 runs in the top of he ninth, then held on in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 win.
      Thursday I had an appointment for an oil change on the Santa Fe.  We had put enough miles on it back and forth to Florida that it was due.  From there I went to the Sportsplex and since it was my turn to "fix" dinner I stopped at Subway for a foot long that Mary and I would split.  This saves Mary a night in the kitchen and is an economical dinner.  The foot long, two small bags of chips and a large drink for me (Mary drinks Crystal Light) came to $8.88.  Hard to beat for an economical dinner. Tonight a few of us gathered at the Veteran's Center to prepare for next weeks book sale to benefit veteran's.

    Friday morning I visited with my foot doctor for my regular foot pampering.  After clipping and scraping he applied some antiseptic spray and padding he sent me on my way.  From there I went to the Farmer's Market where the Post was selling food.  After getting a few pictures I returned home to complete this page.