From somewhere off I-75

We are in the land of magnolias, crape myrtles, dogwoods. After nine hours in the car we made it south of the Mason-Dixon Line, where no one blinked an eye when Sean ordered sweet tea for dinner.

We’ve stopped for the night somewhere in Tennessee. Quite by chance I picked a great hotel; it has a big pool and a row of swings overlooking a lovely lake. And just below the swings is a llama habitat. No joke. We spent several minutes attempting llama calls but none of our calls elicited a response from the furry creatures.

I’m a little apprehensive about the evening and not just because we’re sharing our room with our chatty children. We’re also sharing it with Rascle, Rebecca’s hamster. Our trusty hamster-watcher, Claire, was away, and the other families we asked to watch him were going out of town. So we’ve brought the hamster, his cage, food and fun ball with us. I hope putting him in the bathroom and shutting the door for the night will help quell the sound of our little nocturnal wheel-runner.

Tomorrow we’ll hit the road bright and early in order to be to Sean’s sister’s house after lunch. We have a full week ahead of us, visiting lots of family, with the week culminating in my 20th high school reunion. I am still pretending that isn’t happening…