December 16th through 23rd, 2009

before we traveled up north for Christmas we spent some time with our friends going out to dinner and watching Christmas lights that were synchronized to radio music. We took time traveling down to Beaumont, Texas to watch a movie and have a nice lunch just by ourselves. On Monday the 21st we were busy getting things ready for our trip to the cold lands of Indiana and Iowa. Leaving early on the morning of the 22nd we traveled over 600 miles reaching Murray, KY around 5:30 pm. Arriving at Rhonda’s second cousins, Neil (with an i) and his wife Joan. It was dark and we were weary travelers finding a wonderful resting place. I have to say Neil and Joan were absolutely wonderful hosts. They have the most wonderful home too. The reason is because you can feel their warmth as soon as you walk through the threshold of their front door. We had a wonderful visit being treated as if we were VIP’s. We not only received a warm welcome and hot meal when we arrived our accommodations for the night were truly first rate. Holiday Inn, Ramada or the Hilton could take some major lessons from this couple. Rising early in the morning we were delighted with a delicious breakfast to order. We hated saying our goodbyes because their hospitality was so warm. Getting in our little car we backed out of their driveway waving goodbye, wishing we were waving hello again. It was 9 or 10 years since we last saw them; we made a commitment, that won’t happen again.
Taking off at 8:15 am we head northward toward Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We arrived at 4:45 pm after making pretty good time up I-65 and I-69. We traded driving duties every two hours which makes the trip much easier. Jane (Rhonda’s mom) was in the kitchen and saw us pull in. She opened the garage door and almost immediately started tearing up because we had arrived. We went out for dinner meeting Barbara (Rhonda’s sister) at the fish place we enjoy. The dinner was really good, we order two pounds of fish and it was all gone by the time we left. Going back to Jane’s home we settled in for a nice comfortable evening.