Days 2 and 3….I Finally Left on a Jet Plane

Long story short, after getting to the airport in Ft. Lauderdale for our Flight to Frankfurt, Germany on Friday night, we had a delay, then it became a longer delay.  Our 9:50pm flight didn’t go at all on Friday.  We were put up in a hotel, given food vouchers and told to return to the airport Saturday morning at 9:00am.  Well, we got to the airport and then had to wait some more.  We then learned our flight was delayed again until 2:00pm.  A little while later, it was delayed until 4:00pm.  We finally did leave at 4:30pm.  We landed in Frankfurt around 7:45am today (Sunday) morning.

We got our luggage and then I let Treila go to the bathroom.  We went through customs and proceeded to the car rental booth which was about 1/2 mile from the customs area. I got the key to our Mercedes and Treila asked where was her purse.  Rachel (my cousin for those of you who don’t know) said she remembered Treila taking it into the bathroom.  So Treila and I walked all the way back and had to go through customs again just to get to the bathroom.  Miraculously, the purse was still there. 

We then proceeded to our rental car only to find that we didn’t have enough space for all of our luggage.  So we made due.  All luggage that went in the trunk did and the rest was placed in the back seat with Taylor and Treila.  We then got in the car and started towards Munich (plans changed….we lost part of our time devoted to Paris, so we are reworking our schedule).  Right now we are stopped in Wertheim between Frankfurt and Munich. 

By the time we got down the road to Wurzburg, I was totally exhausted.  So, we pulled over by the side of one road and propped a map up on the steering wheel and took a nap. We have seen some beautiful old sites. We checked into the Novotel Wurzbug for a good night’s sleep.  Here are some of our pictures.

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Day One – I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane

Today was the first day of our European trip.  It seems like such a long day because I didn’t go to bed last night.  I spent too much time yesterday trying to do other things.  It finally all worked out, but I am really tired.  Right now I’m sitting in Bass Pro Outdoor World in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  We have an 8.5 hour layover before our flight out tonight for Frankfurt.  We rented a car and went to “brunch” at the IHOP.  It was wonderful.  The food and the service were great.  The waitress spoke as though she were from Jamaica.  She was great.  We decided to rest right now at the entrance on the wonderful furniture that is available.  We love this store, if nothing more than for the wonderful place to rest.  Anyway, our flight tonight is an overnighter, so we think we will be able to sleep just fine.  So far we’ve driven around and done nothing but see what all is going on in Ft. Lauderdale, Dana Beach areas… We are now at the Ft. Lauderdale airport trying to get to Frankfurt.  This has got to be one of the noisiest airports I’ve ever seen.  They do have wi-fi so I tried to Skype Tony, but his webcam went out.  So he could see and hear us, but we could only hear him a little over this noisy crowd.  Anyway, I don’t have pictures yet to upload, but tomorrow we will be in Frankfurt and then on to Paris. 

Counting Down The Days

I’ve been so busy.  I’m trying to get it all together to finish out the school year for my students.  For my Algebra 2 kids, all they have left is their final exam.  For my Algebra 1 kids, they have one more section to cover and a test.  I have to complete my “end of the year” list before I can “check out” on May 26.

I’ve also started packing for our trip to Europe.  I still have a lot to do including getting all the “stuff” for motor homing together as well as all of our clothes and electronic paraphernalia.

I’m not sure how much stuff to take right now.  I definitely don’t want to take too much, but I don’t want to have to buy too much stuff in Europe once we get there.

We leave in 12 days.  So little time and I thought I’d been planning this for about 1 1/2 years. Keep checking back for our updates while we are on the road.

1000 Year Flood of 2010

Yesterday I heard that some of the officials at the US Army Corp of Engineers said that this was probably a 1000 Year Flood.  There are no records with flooding of this magnitude for Middle Tennessee.  I think they were going off of geology and other experts to come up with that 500 Year figure. 

We are so blessed that we were not gravely affected by this.  However, Tony did have a harrowing experience on Saturday and I foolishly had gone out and it really could have been bad since I did drive through water that I shouldn’t have done.

Our home and property is fine.  More importantly, our immediate families are fine.  We did hear last night that 2 on Tony’s cousins homes were flooded out and possibly an uncle and another cousin had damage.  Tony’s boss’s home had at least 5 feet of water in it.  They evacuated to other family. Yesterday afternoon we went to help him move furniture and other personal belongings.  It was really sad to see all of the people displaced and trying to clear their homes.  They were lining the roads with furniture, household goods, clothes, and de-construction debris.

There is much more to do so we will have to see where we can help within the next few days.  To those who have been given much, much is required.