Okay, we all know that’s not true. The thought of crossing the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan and the Astoria-Megler Bridge in Oregon still terrifies me. But the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay? It’s a piece of cake.
We crossed it twice a week ago today when I had to go to the Bay Pines VA hospital for a CT scan, and with Terry driving it didn’t bother me at all. The lanes are wide and there is a good sized sidewall. Then, on Thursday we rode down to Tarpon Springs with Charles and Chris Yust and crossed the bridge going and coming back.
So yesterday when we went to Pinellas Park for a family reunion, I decided I would do the driving. Usually Miss Terry drives us over the high bridges while I sit there and snivel, but I was proud of myself. I stayed in the inside lane and it didn’t bother me at all.
Now, would I attempt it in our motorhome? Let’s not get silly. Limits are limits.
Yesterday my nephew Steve and his wife Denise hosted a family reunion for us. Steve, his brothers Jack, Harold, and Lou, and sister Cheryl are my late brother Jack’s children, all grown up now. All of my siblings and my parents have been gone for many years and we had lost contact until we reconnected through Ancestry.com a few years ago. Whenever we’re in Florida we try to get together with them.
Jack was on the road delivering a truck to Pennsylvania, so he could not make it to the reunion yesterday, but the rest were there along with their families, and they all went out of their way to make Terry and I feel welcome. There must have been 30 people at least, maybe more, and I had a hard time keeping up with who was married to who, which kids belonged to which parents and grandparents, let alone remembering everybody’s names. I told Terry it should be like at RV rallies, where everybody wears a name tag.
Thanks for having us, Steve and Denise, and thank you to everybody who took time out of your busy lives to come. We love you all.
And today, it’s back to work on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. We’re due to leave here on Sunday and I want to have it finished and sent out to our subscribers before then.
Congratulations Jim Kilpatrick, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Sentinel In Elysium, the first book in my pal George Wier’s Elysium Chronicles series. It’s a small town mystery I know you’re going to like. We had 104 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.
Thought For The Day – Insanity doesn’t run in my family, it practically gallops.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
My husband’s family did the nametag thing for a family reunion a few years ago. It was so helpful! Under each person’s name, it listed their relationship(s)–“son of ____”, granddaughter of ___”, wife of ___”, etc.