After a lovely (and *HUGE*!) breakfast at the cafe, we headed a bit north of the village to visit some of the family from Mom's side including the grandfather I never knew and one of the kindest gents I actually did meet long ago.
With all of the excitement from the night before, we decided an early morning was not for us and that actually worked to Mom's advantage as she got some bonus reunion time before we left the hotel in Robinson IL. This morning's activities included another stop at the cafe in Hutsonville, a stop at the cemetery for Mom, a manhunt, and then we were off for another night in Georgetown KY just north of Lexington.
Welcome to Hell, the hotel edition! Into life some rain must fall but finding a place to lay our heads for the night proved to be a lot more harrowing than we'd ever imagined... :(
We've made it to a farm outside Annapolis IL just north of Hutsonville for Mom's 60th HS Reunion and it truly did not disappoint. I've never attended one of my reunions and honestly don't care if I ever do. Mom's really neat friends made sure I probably won't miss reunions at my old Florida high school any more than I have these many years. :)
We're back in the Land of Lincoln and Central time and now it's time to beat feet for Hutsonville and a lovely cafe in downtown. But before we get there, we'll be passing through Palestine and passing by a farm full of fond memories.
We're over the Wabash River and into Indiana on our way to Vincennes where we'll cross back over the river into Illinois. We're really messing with the ability of automatically updating clocks to recognise which side of the time zone dividing line they are! The hire car usually took about five minutes before it noticed and the phone sometimes even longer which made sorting the pictures in chronological order a bit more exciting than usual!
We're going to duck into Indiana as we follow the Wabash River to Hutsonville. Not only will that make keeping time a bit interesting as we'll bounce from Central to Eastern and back again but it's also a very beautiful and easy drive from Southern Illinois. First stop is at Maplewood Cemetery in Marion to pay a visit and our respects to my father's side of the family...
We're crossing the Ohio River into Illinois at Metropolis! From there, we're going to wander round Harrisburg and meet up with my cousin Cindy and her husband who will be our tour guide to our family's stomping grounds in Saline County before we have dinner and find our hotel in Marion IL!
After a lovely night in metro Lexington KY, we're heading through beautiful horse country down the Western Kentucky Parkway to Paducah where we'll cross the river near Metropolis! Yes Superman fans, you read that right... :)
West Virginia says on their signs that they're "wild and wonderful". The scenery truly is! One particular toll collector on the West Virginia Turnpike certainly fulfilled the wild requirement and then some! ;)
I'm heading off to Fayetteville to collect Mom and then we're heading toward the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. At some point we'll figure out where we're staying for the night. The anticipation and wonder adds to the excitement, don't you think? :)
Who knew getting the hire car would be far more of an adventure than anyone would have imagined? Maybe I should have flown to RDU just to make it a little easier... ;)
We're off to my mother's 60th (!) high school reunion in Hutsonville Illinois that will take us on a scenic trip through the mountains and completely round Western North Carolina and Tennesee to get to the Midwest for a few days. Come along with us in "The Tales From The Lincoln Trail"!
A beautiful web woven by a yellow garden spider shows that the iPhone 8 Plus is actually amazing at doing macro photography! :)
Expired coupon codes and epic stupidity on my part to duplicate an order for presets can’t stop the Radiant Photo support group from rocking the awesome and saving me from my own EPIC DUMBS! :)
The process to electronically file updated tax returns was somewhat byzantine but it did actually work!
Even though Intuit ProConnect says that purchased returns are entitled to "Free e-file, extensions, and amended returns"...it's *HOW* they implemented it that seems utterly brain-dead if not outright *EVIL*. :(
Well, the good news is that clearly someone at Intuit acted upon the support ticket. The bad news is that they didn't get all the details right which is shocking for a company that is supposed to be all about details and numbers! :(
Who knew that a squirrel playing with the foxes in the front flower bed when it's bucketing down rain could be *SO* entertaining?
The highlight of the visit was observing the multitude of employees for whom actually doing their job was less of a priority than fiddling with their phones or Apple watches.
Whilst ordering the TY2024 tax returns for next year’s tax season, the system duplicated the order. Getting “customer service” to mend the situation turned out to be somewhat less than stellar… :(
Was an early morning yesterday I was up before the dawn And I really have enjoyed my stay But I must be moving on... --- "Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp
So whilst Keir Starmer may be as charismatic as a lukewarm block of unseasoned tofu… —- Jonathan Pie
Apparently my abilities to project menace work over a much further distance than I imagined possible. After a long day of kid schlepping, being harassed by two labradoodles, and the odd server move for the websites…I was relaxing on the floor of the living room when my sister Meghann hits me up on the ol’ text message delivery device. Their condo had apparently suffered a total power outage and she sends me a couple of…
Musing on what appears to be a growing cult of family Corollas in Fayetteville and a wee trip down Memory Lane...
