We left our house at 11:39 a.m.  Neighbor Tina was out working in her garden so we stopped.  Twenty minutes later we were done saying "bye."  After dropping off an envelope in the mail box at the corner store and our absentee ballots at the Township Office, we were on our way.  It was now 12:07 p.m.

When we reached Cadillac, we had a late lunch at McD's.  My laptop was collecting e-mails and allowing me to chat with my sister Toot but not connecting through any of my web browser programs (Chrome, I.E. or Firefox).  I had e-mailed NetOne the night before, received a reply this morning, & replied to that that we were leaving town.  They called with info just before we left.  I wrote down what I needed to know, but the laptop was already packed & in the van.  In McD's I tried to make the needed changes to settings but those settings were not where I thought they'd be.  Last resort ... restart!  When I did that, it reloaded & connected like it was supposed to.  I should have tried that two days ago.  But just after it connected, the battery died ... critical low ... wouldn't do anything.  We didn't sit where there was an outlet.  My battery has about a half hour life these days so I wasn't surprised.  I didn't get a chance to charge it until we arrived at Jodie's after dark.

Gas at Walmart, Cadillac was $2.459 per gallon.  We filled the tank as usual.  It was more in TC.

Just before Farwell, we passed a pick-up pulling a carnival food stand that had "Traverse City, MI" boldly painted on the back.  When we stopped at a gas station to use the facilities, it pulled in across from us.  It had sweet potatoes as it's main sales item but also sold several other items including chicken wraps and fried pickles.

After using the rest area near Bay City, we realized we were parked only two cars from a van that looked almost like ours.  I'm still not used to picking ours out of a "line up" ... except for the ribbons on the antenna.  The other couple came out before we got into our van.  He laughed and called out "Are you sure you have the right one?"  I said I saw that ours has chrome on the grill & his didn't.  Ours has fog lamps & his didn't.  And, of course, the ribbons.

Dinner was at Denny's on Washtenaw in Ann Arbor.  Joe remembered that showing the AARP card would get us a discount.  That's always nice.  One reason we stopped there was because we heard on the radio that there was an accident south of Ann Arbor & traffic was backed up.  It was cleared up by the time we finished dinner.

Our GPS likes playing games with us when going to Jodie's.  I kept track of what it said as we by-passed some of it's "suggestions" of how to go.  Arrival time ranged from 8:10 to 8:23 with the first suggested turn-off showing 8:17.  This didn't allow for any stops, of course.

We always stop at a gas station near Stoney Ridge, Ohio before getting on the Turnpike.  Usually the price is cheaper than at home.  This time it was $2.489 per gallon.  From there, we went across the road to McD's for dessert ... ice cream cones ... just before getting on the Turnpike.

After stops at Vermillion Valley Service Plaza and to pay toll, we arrived at Jodie & Paul's at 8:43 p.m.  Paul had gotten home with Alexa just shortly before.  Jodie was at a roller derby party and returned later.

Alexa brought two blankets, a small pillow & some of her clothes to our room in the finished attic but ended up sleeping in our bed.  She usually makes herself a bed in the alcove under the windows.  Her Mommy wondered where one of the wash baskets from the basement had gone.  Alexa had used it to move her clothes & bedding.  Their house is basement (laundry, bathroom, family room), first floor (kitchen, dining room, living room), second floor (bedrooms, main bath), and attic (one big room with our bed in one corner).  Yep, she brought it all the way up.  She's 4 ... going on 21.

Alexa wanted a bath before going to bed so I helped her.