Southern Tour — Trip Home Leg 1

Having made it all the way to Orlando, it’s time to turn around and head home. We’ve been gone for nearly a month, and both Berck and I are about vacationed out and ready to return to routine. That may take a bit longer for Berck than for me. Colorado has been dumped on with snow most of the time we’ve been gone, and there’s a good chance it’s going to snow again on Friday. The forecast for Saturday is clear, though, so we’re hoping the snow plows will have reached our street by the time we get back, since we’re in the car with summer tires. It’s funny how we’ve escaped the snow for Florida, something many Coloradans may have jumped at the chance to do, and yet we’re sad we’re missing the biggest storm in 60 years and have been stuck in sunny (and hot and humid) Florida. We’ve just about decided never to come to Florida again, except for Berck’s brother Kelsey’s wedding on December 1 (yes, it’s official now).

Currently, we’re braving Florida traffic on northbound I-75. We were complaining to Berck’s mom about Florida drivers, and she said, “It’s not Florida drivers; it’s the tourists!” Berck informed her that every time a car was hogging the left lane, it had a Florida license plate, and all the out-of-staters were having to go around.

Our car charger for the computer is broken, so we only have a couple hours of power at a time. I realized it was broken right after we made the turn onto the tollway to Berck’s mom’s house when the computer shut off after running out of battery, right when we needed Street Atlas. Fortunately, we won’t need it much on the way home.

The car’s tach keeps jumping around, which is very perturbing, since it could indicate something wrong with the engine. Berck says it’s getting worse, but he can’t figure out what’s causing it.

We somehow managed to pack everything in the Miata from Orlando, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to get the presents we left in Mobile in. I ended up with a lot more loot from Berck’s family, even with our presents from Sydney and Kelsey and Liz being mailed to our apartment (steaks and books). We exchanged pictures of what we were getting with Sydney. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Berckes yesterday. They were thrilled to see us. Both of them love to talk, and I think Berck and I got out a couple sentences each, followed by, “What? I need to put my hearing aid in/you talk so softly. That reminds me…” Grandpa Berckes is doing fantastically, especially since we all thought he was going to die by Thanksgiving when his heart kept stopping beating. He gets around the house just fine and is in the process of assembling a huge entertainment center he got on sale at Target. He even drove us to the little restaurant in their gated community of prefab houses (all of which apparently come with a golf cart). Grandma Berckes has been putting her kids’ and grandkids’ names on all of her possessions for when she dies. She told me how impressed she was that I baked my own wedding cake, and since I was the baker, I could have all of her baking pans when she dies. But first she went through them all and gave me all of the ones that she doesn’t use much anymore, all of which belonged to Grandpa Berckes’ mother. She also gave me a mini Bundt pan that holds a half recipe in six little Bundt indentations. I declined the Jello molds, though. She also gave me a bunch of Sheffield serving spoons. She apologized that she couldn’t give me her springform pan yet, since she still uses it, although it has my name on it. So it’s a good thing Mom gave me some springform pans for Christmas. I told Grandma Berckes that what I would really want is a collection of all her favorite recipes.

Berck’s mom gave me a pi plate that I just love. I also got a Heifer International hat and t-shirt that amuse me greatly. Berck got a massive L.L. Bean parka that he ordered this morning so it will get to Colorado Springs when we do. Berck also got the special edition DVD’s of the original unremastered Star Wars that apparently came from me.

Liz got Kelsey a Wii for his birthday (she had to stand in line at 4 in the morning when they went on sale) that he brought down to Florida. The only game we liked was the sports game that came with it, but we played it endlessly. You can have up to four players, and you hold and move the console like you would a piece of sports equipment. By the end of the day, both of my arms were so sore I could barely move them. Our favorite was tennis, and Berck’s mom, sister Sydney, brother Kelsey, Kelsey’s fiance Liz, and I rotated in and out playing it doubles We even got Uncle Stacy and cousin Nicole in on the action. Bowling was also fun though it took longer. Baseball was also good, but only two people can play it at a time. We lost interest once we figured out how to throw curve balls, sliders, and breaking balls and no one ever scored again. Another great thing about the Wii is that you can create a character out of an assortment of lips, eyebrows, and hair. We did an especially good job on Berck’s mom.

It was fun to celebrate the New Year all together, once Berck stopped yelling at Kelsey. I managed to buy a bottle of fake champaign (that ended up actually being pretty tasty) at Publix that day; they had signs up all over the store saying, “Yes, we are selling alcohol on Sunday until 9pm!” Berck’s mom had sent me to the store with her credit card to buy some stuff. The clerk asked for my ID for the bottle of sparkling wine on the top of my basket. Then she asked to see my credit card that I had swiped to pay for everything. She examined the front and back and handed it back to me. What the heck are they looking for? She’d already seen my ID, and they obviously didn’t match.

We spend tonight in Mobile after a Picklefish dinner. Tomorrow, Tyler, Texas.