Friday, March 30, 2012
We drove to the La Quinta Inn in Melbourne, FL.
We went to meet Roger as agreed, at his office. Thanks only to the TomTom we found it. Roger wasn't there. The secretary got him on the phone, and we got an address to meet him in Palm Bay.
We met Roger at the first house.
We saw 4 houses. We drove up to 2, saw 4.
Of those, we like 3.
We have yet to explore neighbourhoods, see if there is a beach nearby, see where they are in relation to shopping. We don't have a map of Palm Bay. I really think that is something Roger should provide.
So in a very real sense, tomorrow is a work day.
We drove to see 3 places along Melbourne Beach, then across to the mainland to re-look at 3 places Roger had shown us.
At least the house that we most liked, turned out to be in a bad neighborhood.
Others were 'possible'.
But I convinced BJ we should look along the Beach strip, given that none had pools.
That took until 2 PM.
Then we phoned Roger. We met Roger around 4. Only the 'A-frame' was really available for us to see in Melbourne. It turned out to need really a lot of work: new kitchen, new baths, all new decking outside. Re-painting inside, over time. It was built in '79, but had no upgrades since, except new carpet throughout. Neither BJ nor I were really taken with the layout, there was really not much yard. It was a frame house which had withstood "all the hurricanes".
Sunday, April 01, 2012
April Fools Day.
Roger was supposed to phone last night / this morning if he could get us into the pool house in Palm Bay (Charlotta). So far this morning, the phone hasn't rung.
Looks like we're going to leave for the drive home, when we're ready, on schedule. 5 hours of driving expected today.
I'm not really disappointed about not finding a house. We can go back to Englewood next year if we want, and if we reserve with Peggy.
...
So here we are in Walterboro South Carolina.
I asked BJ where we were, he said Walterboro, Maine. We both enjoy driving so much...
We're at a Days Inn. It is a tired room, and I think I can detect that there has been a dog in this room before, but at least the room doesn't move!
No real problems driving. A couple of periods of stop and go, but not serious. Once we stopped at a rest-stop, just because we were tired and the traffic was bad. Jack got to pee. The rest of us stood around in the blazing sun, glad to be standing up and off our asses. Somebody once made the comment that they had a kink in their ass; now I know what they mean.
We drove successfully by Washington DC.
Traffic was heavy, we saw a couple of fender benders, but had no signficant stops. Arrived here in Jessup MD at 5:30 last night. The TomTom had originally forecast 4:30 PM arrival, so with stops for lunch and for gas, we did make good time.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Breakfasted with a 47 piece orchestra of teens from Georgia. A large proportion were oriental. They had played at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, leaving this morning.
We got up late, breakfast is over and it is now 8:45 AM.
We plan to visit Pat & Mabel this afternoon; we're staying at a hotel in Princeton tonight.
Tomorrow we'll drive to Portland, ME.
Home the next day.
BJ and Jack are about to go for their morning constitutional. Jack has been promised combing this morning; I need to go find his comb; its in the Jack bag in the car, in the trunk I think.
