Date: 2004-04-02
From: Leaving Home

To: Road Trip to GA
Miles today: 0.0

I had a dream. I went as a chaperone to France with Arleen and Gail and a nice group of SWHS kids. We were on the coast in a very small village. We had to carry our luggage through the streets to our hotel. The hotel was in a quaint house. We walked into the first room of the house which turned out to be an elevator. The elevator went down and turned until it stopped. Everyone was disoriented from the descent. Students walked away towards their rooms. I didn't know where my room was located so seeked help from an employee. He took my luggage consisting of only a small suitcase and a large paper shopping bag. I followed him until I found myself outside. I couldn't get back inside. I wandered around the area until morning. Spotting the employee on the street, I punched him in the nose. He fell over a fence and onto a beach with part of his body in the sea. I found my way back into the hotel where Arleen was talking to the group. She said something about everyone except Art had a good night's sleep. Then I woke up to discover I was in John's house and it was 3:00 AM this morning and time to hit the road for Georgia.   Yesterday, I left New Hampshire about 8:30 am after a teary goodbye with Sue. The hardest part of my hike is leaving her behind.   It rained heavily the entire trip to CT and then very hard all night. I dropped by SWHS to visit with my old friends. They all commented that I looked happy and healthy. I do have a tanned face from a winter of skiing.   After a couple of phone calls I arranged to visit Darcy at her Tae Kwon Do studio. Actually I picked her up and drove her to work since her car needed repair. We spent some time together. David arrived and began class with some of their students. David is very impressive with his kids. After awhile Kristi arrived from her day as a substitute teacher in West Hartford, CT. We talked and then Kris and I went to Subway for dinner. I parted from the Subway about 8:00 PM heading for John Salcius' house stopping at EMS to pick up a sports water bottle that would fit the loops on the shoulder straps of my ULA P2 pack. When I arived at John's house he presented me with a 256megabyte compact flash card for my new camera.   What a guy!!! John and I watched a little of the NCAA Basketball Shoot Around then headed to bed about 11:00 PM. We are both lamenting the fact that we will miss the UCONN men and women playing in the final four.   Waking up around 3:00 AM with that weird dream. What does it mean?   We left SW about 3:30 AM driving south getting to Roanoak VA by 2:00 PM. Along the way we could see signs of spring. In PA the grass was greening. In northern VA the forsythia was in bloom. In central and southern Va the dogwood is in full bloom and the trees are budding. Daffodils are blooming in the median of the highway.   Checking my cellphone I discovered messages from Sue and Ladybug. I tried to return both but only got voice mail. Ladybug says the weather forcast for the next few days is perfect for hiking. No rain and temps between 42-75. Wow!   We seemed to be making great time. I figured we would be at Pittsburgh's in Dalogenah GA by 6:00 PM. Well we ran into rush hour traffic in Charlotte,NC and I way underestimated the time it would take to get from Roanoke to GA. Therefore we didn't reach our destination until 10:00 PM. I feel bad because Barb prepared dinner for us and we did not make it in time. I did call around 6:30 to let them know our ETA but I was off by 1.5 hours. Now we are bunked down for the night after talking awhile. Barb's son Bryan is great. He shows some beginning signs of a case of Springer Fever.   Life Is Good!! "Gabby" aka Art Cloutman