Trials and Tribulations of Heading South!

We started for sunny Florida on the fifteenth of January. George and I stay with my mom, and as she worries about our traveling, I don't usually tell her we are on our way until we get through Virginia. Usually that means the worst of the weather is over. Hah!

It snowed before we left home so we did not leave until noon. We spent the night in Binghamton, and started out bright and early Wednesday morning. We drove about nine hours and stopped again in Hillsville, VA. I thought we would be fairly safe as we were only a few miles from the NC border. We had dinner that night at Shoney's....never again! George woke up at 2 am and he was running a high fever, ached all over, and kept telling me he was freezing. (The room must have been a hundred degrees, I could not turn the heat up any higher.) To add to the misery when we got up in the morning, there was five inches of snow on the ground!!! We delayed our departure a bit and then took off at a slow pace. The roads were a mess! George was feeling awful so we decided to go just to a hotel we like in Columbia. We were going to get there before their check in time, so we stopped at JR's first and then to Mary Jo's. I needed some fabric for a special project, and had all the measurements on a notepad. I tried to get a bolt off the shelf that was wedged in so tight, that I had to set my notepad down. A salesgirl helped me pull it out and suddenly no notepad!!! Three girls helped me look, I was so upset, I was trying to hurry because George was napping in the car, I was so prepared...and ended up guessing what I needed. We left Gastonia and headed for Columbia. When we arrived the parking lot was filled with police cruisers. They apparently were having a conference. One of the patrons parked near the cruisers thinking their car would be safe, and someone smashed their window in during the night. I think since this was the only vandalism, it was an in your face thing to the police. So sad for this lady, she was elderly and just beside herself. She had purposely parked her car in that spot for what she thought was added security. This world is so crazy sometimes.
We managed to finish up the trip on Friday, and make it to Mom's before the heavy rained started. Florida downpours are not fun to drive in when you are tired and feeling sick!

Today we spent most of the day in the ER, since we have no physicians here, getting George a prescription for his illness. Hopefully all will settle down now for the next three months or so!