27 posts tagged “visitation”
What happened the first time you were left home alone as a child?
Submitted by Warhead.
Absolutely nothing. I don't even remember the first time I was left home alone. I remember that I was being left home alone for a while when my father insisted I go to the gas station with him because he was out of rolaids. I was pretty insulted that he wouldn't leave me home alone when I'd been doing fine by myself.
Speaking of being by myself, I certainly would not have been by myself if I'd gone for that Fire Power #3 cache. When they said "high muggle area", they meant it. I'm just not brave enough to walk up next to a group of people and grab a cache. Let the seasoned cachers do that. It will have to wait for another time.
Oh, and Bailey's father was late... again.
We ran two hours behind schedule since my ex-husband decided to play games to an extent where the police had to help return the boys. It's both fortunate and unfortunate that this happens so often that the boys aren't intimidated by the police. It's just a regular thing for them. I thank God that the police in my ex-husband's town have always been very helpful and concerned.
We left at 5:30pm Eastern time. We stopped in Murfreesboro, Tennessee at 11pm at the Days Inn. I had a heck of a time trying to find a hotel with a double room. A Holiday Inn north of Nashville tried to sell me the same suite we ended up in at the Days Inn for over $100 (before tax). The room we had was still expensive and over-budget but I got it for $80 so hey.
We left the southern Nashville suburbs around 10am and got home at 11:30pm with an eighth of a tank left. It rained from southern Georgia all the way down to North Port. Traffic ran smoothly, for the most part, and we didn't have any of the delays that we had traveling north.
Fuel was more expensive. In northern Florida, it cost me $3.55/gal. That's the most I've ever paid in my life.
Food costs for the return trip total $25; Hotel cost: $92; Fuel: $160; Total Return Trip: $277
Total Travel Expenses: $497
Total Trip cost with expenses during the week, including top-up cards: $902
If I didn't have to top-up my phone twice to deal with the problems my ex-husband caused, I would have been below $850.
Tom's taken Michael and Eddie to the Florida International Air Show again this year. They'll be gone all day as long as the weather cooperates.
We left Cave City, KY at 8am and arrived in Rensselaer at 1pm. The time zone fluctuated between Central and Eastern so my times are all Eastern.
We had time to run back to Sayler Makeever Cemetery to get the micro geocache hidden there, run some audio and take photos. It was cold and the wind made it worse, but the road was solid and the ground was firm enough. The cemetery is amazing.
We got to McDonald's at the same time as my mother and she bought us lunch. She's also giving me $100 when she brings the boys back so I can make it home. I said I was short. I won't worry about getting home now but I look forward to losing some weight this week!
The hotel I'm staying at is a small, family-run operation that's clean and reasonably priced. I'm across from the big cemetery and a mile down the road from Rensselaer's historic district. I didn't feel like doing anything today after I'd done the Sayler Makeever Cemetery. I want to rest and I'll get to waymarking and photography tomorrow after Mass. I have until Friday.
My mother is taking Michael and Eddie to see Horton Hears a Who and she's spoiling them as usual. I told them not to take advantage of my parents since my kids tend to ask for the moon and, being proper grandparents, my parents will give it to them. Their father should pick them up tomorrow at noon and drop them back to my parents' house on Friday at noon. Here's hoping it's all uneventful.
My father-in-law is a piece of work. That's all I'll really say about that since his huffing and puffing doesn't change anything, but it's just irritating. I'm thankful that Tom is handling all that now.
The totals for this leg of the trip:
Yesterday's total of hotel, food and fuel: $187
Today's expenses: food - $8, fuel - $25; Total travel expenses for today: $33
Total northbound trip: $220
My six-day hotel stay cost $285 and food will average $25. I've already eaten today at 0 cost, thanks to my mother.
I HATE SNOWBIRDS!
*cough*
We left at 8:45am Eastern. We crawled from Tampa until I-24. We went an average of 40mph between Macon and Atlanta and never went over 85mph! I couldn't trust the snowbirds not to jump ahead of me in the fast lane just to slam on the brakes for no reason. I was four hours behind schedule so I drove until 11pm to get us to Cave City, Kentucky. Because I'm in a tourist town, the hotel cost over $70. The other places were full and I didn't feel like driving until the next exit. I filled up the tank three times: Lake City, FL; somewhere inbetween Macon & Atlanta, GA; Franklin, KY (or close to it). This tank should get me to Indianapolis, if not all the way.
I cannot afford the gas to stop anywhere extra there or back, as much as I want to.
Cost totals for Day 1:
food - $13; fuel - $102 (still on full); hotel - $72
Other stuff happened today that's non-trip related that's worth telling but I'm just too tired to get into it. Let me sum up to say: My stupid ex is stupid and the people who like my photos rock my world.
I can't begin to tell you how much I like this photo. I don't know why. I guess with the ridiculousness of xenophobia and immigration, it just seems appropriate.
I went to two cemeteries today. It would have been three but the third was in a different spot than I thought it would be. I should have really Google Earth'd the location before I set out so I wasn't basing my direction on a general location.
Lt. Carl Bailey Cemetery, formerly Cleveland Cemetery, is located in the Cleveland neighbourhood of Punta Gorda. It's well-kept now. The older graves - the ones that are marked, that is - show extreme weathering and neglect. The place is modestly big for being in a small square of town. The number of occupants are impressive and there are still plots for sale. It's an active cemetery. It was renamed Lt. Carl Bailey Cemetery after the U.S. Air Force lieutenant who is buried, along with his whole family, in the cemetery.
Hickory Bluff Cemetery is named appropriately because when the cemetery began in the 1800's, Charlotte Harbor Town was still known as Hickory Bluff. This was a time before DeSoto County even existed and the entire area was a giant Manatee County. This was another neglected cemetery where people were buried without markers or record from the 1800's until the 1950's. Charlotte County had charge of maintaining the cemetery in the 1930's and 40's but did nothing to resolve this substantial problem. There are three markers with full information provided. Three. Out of the countless others who were buried in the seventy years from the 1880's through the 1950's. I ran audio at Hickory Bluff but it resulted in nothing. I did get fantastic photographs of the birds who weren't afraid of people. They treated me like I wasn't even there.
Did I mention both Lt. Carl Bailey Cemetery and Hickory Bluff Cemetery were for African-American residents? I think the County should exume and identify, but where does that money come from? Still, I think it needs to be done and should be done on the County dollar since it was the County who perpetuated this problem. It shouldn't stay the way it is.
I have to do laundry and pack tomorrow for this trip. Tom's making me "prepare" instead of letting me throw everything together last minute. Since I'm staying in Rensselaer for the week, I have to pack more clothes than I did when I ran back and forth during the Winter visitation thing. Rensselaer currently has one waymark so I'm going to have a ball waymarking all the historical and noteworthy everything. The peer vote on my Woman's Clubs category will be done on May 29. I'll be on the road, which doesn't make a difference in the category's fate but it will drive me crazy until I know what's going on.
We coloured eggs tonight, and then took pictures of them. Tommy even got into the fun, turning all his eggs blue.
On Wednesday while Bailey was in CCD, I waymarked the North Port Library and took some pictures of the Most Holy Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church off of Price and Biscayne that I've been eyeing for the better part of four years. It's an elaborate structure and incredibly stunning. Waiting out the final moments of Bailey's class, I took even more photos of San Pedro Catholic Church. I just can't help myself.
Earlier today I took a few shots of Ollies Pond Park in Port Charlotte. I was actually investigating the claim on the County website that Ollies Pond Park had a fitness trail. I never remembered such a thing in this small park that only had a single path that circled the center pond. My memory was right and there is no actual fitness trail. One would get fit walking the trail, mind you, but an actual fitness trail is something a bit more than that.
I adopted Myakkahatchee Cache (GCGYJF) and I'm very happy about that. I couldn't allow it to be archived when so many new caches have filled that park. It was an active and solid cache to start with, even in the park all by its lonesome. Once our pending waymarks are approved, we'll be one or two shy of 100 waymarks. I've done about 75 waymarks in one week. Not too shabby.
I've been trying to prepare for this Spring Vacation trip I have to take for Michael's and Eddie's visitation in the midwest. It's bothersome but it has to get done. Can you believe tomorrow is Good Friday already?! I'm ready for a nice, long sleep tonight.
Here's a few more shots from yesterday and today:
Geocacher r3mix3r had planted about nine new caches in Myakkahatchee Environmental Park in North Port, Florida. I found five of his new hides plus the existing regular cache that I just hadn't done before. It took a couple hours to hunt into a half-mile of the park before I had to turn around and leave to get the kids from school. I was FTF on those new five. Four of the new hides remain in the same park. I think other cachers will get the FTF on them before I have a chance to hike that back half-mile.
Tomorrow, Tom's made plans for me to photograph his father's plane, which I suppose he intends on selling. After that, we should head out to Station 16. I've rebuilt cache hides Good Boy! and Harbor Arbor, and both are ready to be placed back in their respective spots at any convenient time tomorrow. Bailey goes to her dad's this weekend, which is an additional trip to Punta Gorda, so there's always an opportunity there.
Here's a few more images from Myakkahatchee Environmental Park:
I left a little early last evening so I could stop by Indian Springs Cemetery for a cache check and photos before heading towards the visitation meeting spot in south Punta Gorda. I didn't have a lot of time but had fun with the Hewitt tomb, which stands in the southwest corner next to the unofficial children's section.
Afterwards, Bailey and I stopped by the new park off of Bayshore Rd in Charlotte Harbor Town. Most of the park is still fenced off and under construction, but they have opened up a small parking lot with a nice walk-out. I brought Bailey's 110 camera with me so she was able to take pictures, too.
We left Whitehouse, TN around 9:30am and ended up at Rennsalaer, Indiana 90 minutes early. Prepared for such a situation, I brought out my GPS with the coordinates programmed for the geocaches in the area. My first pursuit was closest to where I was, Old Settlers (GCK423), an old cemetery that is the resting place for 19th century pioneers. I figured I could get the cache and then photograph and waymark. So, I followed my GPS down the empty backroads of snow-covered farmland until I came to a small crossing that beared nothing more than an old metal sign:
Excited to have found it, I turned onto the unplowed road. Immediately, I realised this wasn't very smart. If I continued, I'd get stuck. I stopped and threw the Kia into reverse to use my tracks back out. Too late!
So, I tried everything I knew to get myself out, but there was mud underneath. I was good and stuck. I called Progressive because I pay a hefty premium every month to have Roadside Assistance for such circumstances. Fifteen minutes later, the agent calls me to tell me that nobody in their network was willing to come out and get me. Nice, huh? So, I called 9-1-1. Almost everyone who passed by this road stopped to see what they could do to help, which was kind. The Sheriff's Deputy asked me about my firefighter plate (and I told him my husband is a retired firefighter) so he radioed this information (along with the age of my child) in all his valiant attempts to find options for me. In the end, he'd arranged for the local tow company to come out and pull me out without expectation of payment. They're pursuing my insurance for it and rightfully so. I have a couple more pictures of this failed geocaching adventure on Flickr.
I was an hour late to the McDonald's to get Michael and Eddie from my mother. She asked me if I told the Deputy the truth of why I was there. Of course I told him the truth. I don't think there's anything I could have made up that would have made my situation seem less stupid.
We left Rennsalaer, Indiana at 5pm (Eastern time) and stopped in Franklin, TN (or is it Murfreesboro?) at 11:30pm at the Best Western that promised wi-fi and failed to provide it.
We got back on the road at 9am and were on a good schedule for the rest of Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. We arrived home safely at 8:45pm on Saturday, January 5.
Trip totals:
Hotels: $133; Food: $50; Fuel: $240.50; Complete Trip Total: $423.50
I actually spent less in fuel despite costs being more, which could only account for the lack of sightseeing this time. (I would have rather spent the extra if I'd had the time!). The hotel was less because two nights were spent, instead of three.
We left two hours behind schedule at 8:30am. This means we crossed the Florida border into Georgia at 12:30pm and finally crossed into Tennessee at 5:30pm. Tommy napped in the morning, in the afternoon and for an hour in the evening. When he woke up at 7:30pm, we stopped here at the Days Inn in Whitehouse, TN. I love the free wi-fi. Fuel has been more expensive, ranging from the low $3/gal area to the high $2/gal area. The hotel was a savings but not enough to compensate for the fuel increase. Food has also been a little more but not considerably so.
After so much napping, Tommy is wired and refuses to settle down in the room. It's much more exciting to open the same night-table drawer repeatedly, play in the curtains, try to open the door (!!!), and turn the a/c on and off. It's freezing outside and I know he'll have us freezing by morning.
Recently, I tried to list the various police departments who have stopped me for traffic violations. Not only did I completely forget a few but I also misplaced one department as being in northern Florida when it was in southern Georgia. Add this to realising that Martin Springs Baptist Church, a little church with a little cemetery that I photographed last week, was in unincorporated Marion County, Tennessee and not in Georgia. I conclude that I don't know where I am half the time!
No stops last trip and so far no stops this trip. The Georgia state patrol was heavily watching the Macon area again, but weren't biting at anyone going 80-90mph, which was my average speed through these three states.
Michael and Eddie should be returned to my mother at my parents' house tomorrow at noon Central time. Even though I'm two hours off schedule today, I have been meeting all my timeline goals and should be able to set things right on tomorrow to meet as the appropriate time.
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