Date: 2010-07-18
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

~~~Going Home to Florida ~~~Butch was here first thing this morning and after breakfast and my final packing up the pack, and we were off to Newburgh, Stewart International Airport to catch my JetBlue flight to Orlando ( this airport is also a backup emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle as it used to be an airbase and has an extra long runway for such flights ~ pretty cool).Boarded the flight, pulled back from the jet bridge, sat for a few minutes, the Captain came on about an engine sensor, pulled back to the gate, unloaded and resumed the flight 2 1/2 hours after the original departure time. I just found a wall and propped my leg up on my backpack to elevate and read a magazine and drank coffee and water.Very lucky for me (and this is so unusual as I am always booked into a middle seat), I got an aisle seat and we all got free headsets for our delay. Started to watch The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler (because he's hot) but the movie was so awful, I switched over to a Matt Damon movie about the start of the Iraqi War and how the US misled everyone into believing the WMD's, weapons of mass destruction, existed. Don't know the name of the movie but it was excellent and I was the ONLY woman, that I could tell, that was watching it, as were most of the guys. Just goes to show that I think more like a man than a woman ~~~My daughter, Josie, met me at the airport, along with her chihuahua, Bizmark and we drove home to Ocala, not quite 2 hours away. It was SO surreal to be home. I cannot begin to tell you how depressing it was and yet, how thankful I am for how easy everything fell into place. It could have a real nightmare to try to find my way home. Again, this was all in God's hands and now my job is to better understand why I was pulled off the Trail so soon.My one chihuahua, Pepper, was so excited to see me that he never stopped licking my face when I held him. I have never witnessed such a display of love from him, ever. OR, he could just be thankful that he has the run of the house with air conditioning again. Could be ~~~Florida had a series of bad storms and when I gave my house a look over, the fridge was not on and the freezer was full of mold from the melted ice cubes. The only thing that was in the fridge itself were condiments as I cleaned out the food before the hike. I thought that the fridge took a dump and I was stuck with shelling out money and the hassle of replacing it; turns out, there was a surge protection device on the plug and it was burned, indicating a close lightening strike. Plugged the original into the socket and, ta da, the fridge started up. Yeah !!!! No more money out the door AND no hassle of replacement. Thank You, sweet Jesus.You know, the first night back is kind of uncomfortable; I had only been gone five weeks and still, back in my familiar surroundings and I was uneasy and completely depressed.No tv or internet until I get them turned back on tomorrow. Watched a dvd just to have white noise and started reading all of my Trail books only I started at Harper's Ferry in every one of them and never read past Pochuck Mountain, where I had to end my hike. Funny, isn't it? I read about places and shelters I had actually stayed at. In my mind, I could recall all the great times at each shelter and who I was with and it was funny to read about them in all these books.At least, I suppose, I have some really great memories that can access....for now.