We made is safely back to Ohio after our tour of Rockland and East Livermore, Maine. We managed to put over 2,000 miles on the car. It is about a 15-hour drive from New Baltimore to Rockland, so we break that up over two days. We did do the whole thing in one shot once or twice, but the in last two hours of those drives I started seeing things that were not there and started muttering directions to myself. Mer decided this was not the most restful start to vacations, so we have split the drive the last several years.

Our kitties were most happy to see us – so much so that they all took turns waking us up, starting around 5 a.m. It was still really nice to be back in my bed – you mu-sings readers who are still on the short side of 30 will not understand that, but you really get used to being in your own bed. Also, most people do not spend lots of money on the guest beds, so they tend to support my back less than my normal bed. End of old-fart-sounding rant.

We are going to try to shorten the holiday rotation; for the last nine years we have rotated Florida/Chicago and Ohio/Maine (to try to see the scattered family). We’re going to see if a two-year rotation of Chicago and Ohio/Maine will work for everyone. Since the only people we see in Florida are Mer’s parents (who just retired and are thus mobile), we’d like to skip that so that we get to Maine and get to stay home more often. I know most folks would not be happy about swapping Florida for Ohio and Maine, but I’m not most people. I am less than impressed with central Florida – I only go to see Dale and Carlene, so I’ll be quite happy to have a fair shot at some snow for Christmas.

Anyhooway, I’ll try to update the Maine happenings shortly, to try to cover what was missed while I was computerless.