A Few Travel Notes

We’ve made it back from Indiana safe and sound. The weather there was fabulous, lows in the 30’s, highs in the 50’s. You know, normal October weather. We wore long sleeves AND jackets. The furnace actually ran. I don’t think I broke into a sweat even once. It was chilly! Oh, it was glorious. Slag survived the temperature drop. He did not, in fact, develop a case of frostbite while we were there, no matter how vehemently he claims that he did. I’ve seen his fingers and toes and they are not black. But that’s all over now. We’re back to the land where the daytime temperatures are in the 90’s, and I’m back to whining about it.

We had a great visit with two of my four parents, and also got to see my brother, sister-in-law and my adorable niece and nephew. They even drew us pictures that we got to keep (the niece and nephew, not the parents).

We slipped out for a nice long lunch with my brother and sister-in-law while the grandparents watched the kids. It was great to spend some time with just the two of them, to yak and really catch up. We don’t get to do that very often, because our visits are usually short. Lunch was a yummy, home-cooked, Indiana-style-cuisine buffet. They even had sweet iced-tea! Yay! Slag thinks he saw boiled pork chops on the buffet. I’m not convinced they were actually cooked in water, but they were certainly served in water, or something resembling water. Nobody at the table tried them, so I guess it will remain a mystery. However, I’d like to say here that boiled meat is not the typical fare in my homeland, whether or not the meat on the buffet was boiled, and no matter what Slag says.

The Cholula Sauce arrived intact, and Slag put it to good use. He ended up accidentally leaving the bottle on the table in a little local restaurant where we had breakfast the last day we were there. He had doused his eggs with it. Oh well, maybe someone else will be brave and try it. Then, I’m sure, an ambulance will be summoned so the tastee can be rushed to the hospital and treated for capsaicin burns.

My parents knew just about everyone in that restaurant. It’s a REALLY small town (pop. ~3500 and the largest town in the county). I’ve been gone long enough that I didn’t recognize many of the people they chatted with. But then, just as we were paying the bill, my third-grade teacher and my fourth-grade social studies teacher, Miss McCune (then) and Mr. Wheeler, walk in. They’re married to each other now, so I guess it’s now Mrs. Wheeler and Mr. Wheeler. They did look familiar after my parents introduced them, but it’s amazing what 30 years can do to a person. I guess I may have changed a bit too. They seemed to remember me, which is truly amazing. Seems like after 30 years the hordes of eight and nine-year-olds would start to blur.

My new NordicTrack was on the front porch in a big box when we arrived home. As if on cue, the old one promptly fell apart last night, as I was using it one last time. First the arm cable broke. I tied it back together and continued on. Then one of the rollers started making this god-awful, eardrum-exploding noise about every third step. Looks like the new one arrived just in time. Now all we have to do is get it upstairs and assembled without hurting anyone’s back. Jeez those things are heavy.

That’s about it. Nothing too exciting, but very pleasant. Now it’s back to the daily grind.