Fletcher drove up from Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday Nov. 7 to stay for a few days. On Sunday we drove over to Kissimmee to visit with my brother Cyril who hasn't been feeling well lately. While we were there, Fletcher used his own stethoscope and blood pressure cuff to check Cyril's blood pressure
and compared his results against the ones Elaine got with their blood pressure machine and to see what prescriptions Cyril was taking.
On Tuesday Nov. 10 Mike, Fletcher and I drove down to the Vero Beach Library to attend the Indian River Genealogical Society's monthly meeting. Pam Cooper (Past President of the FL State Genealogical Society & Supervisor for the Library's Archives & Genealogical Department) and Pat Giordano (FSGS Pioneer Descendants Committee Chairman) presented Mike and Fletcher their FL Pioneer Descendants certificates & pins and I received my FL Pioneer Researcher certificate & pin for researching Mike's 3rd great-grandparents Silas & Avis Fletcher who settled on Indian Key in the 1820's. I also accepted a Descendant certificate for Mike's brother Chris who died earlier this year.
After the genealogy meeting Mike, Fletcher and I drove down to Mrs. Mac's and met
We spent most of October just working around the house. We did make a day trip over to Kissimmee on the 4th to visit with my brother and family.
Then we got ambitious and bought about 20 croton and 12 Ti plants at Home Depot on the 24th for the flower bed in front of our garage.
The flower bed isn't very wide but it is about 20 feet long and needed to be dug out in order to plant the crotons and Ti plants. Mike started out doing the digging, but it hurt his back so much that I took over. Well, it turns out that even with my lower back problems I am now the official "digger" and Mike became the wheelbarrow handler and dumper. It took us a few days to dig out the flower bed completely and then a couple of days to put in the plants and the mulch.
I waited until today to post because I wanted to take photos of our work on the flower bed and didn't get them taken until today.
In the time between our visit to Kissimmee and putting in the new flower bed -
In my last post on Sept. 21 we had just gotten home from a 9-day trip and found out we had no water at the house and were hooked up to our neighbor's house so we would have water.
It turns out that the pump for our well water died while we were gone and will need to be replaced (that was the new pump Mike had put in not too long after we moved in to the house). We called the Indian River County Water and found out what we needed to do to have county water hooked up. There was already a meter box installed, we just needed the water meter hooked up to the county line and then to our house.
We went to the county office and paid the $1145.00 impact fee and a $50.00 deposit to have the meter installed. Then we went to Maxwell & Sons Plumbing here in Sebastian and paid $530.00 to have them run water lines from the house to the water meter. So by Friday Sept. 25 we had county water hooked up. Thank goodness we have a great neighbor next-door, since we were hooked up to his water for about 3 days.
Last Thursday was my birthday and Mike and I went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. Mike had the Asiago NY Strip and I had the Mushroom NY Strip and we both had a loaded baked potato and a glass of merlot.
This week I ordered the Florida Pioneer Descendants certificates and lapel pins for Mike, Fletcher and Chris (Mike's brother) and a certificate for myself for doing the research. There will be a presentation ceremony later this year at an Indian River Genealogical Society meeting in Vero Beach.
We got up this morning and loaded the few things we had brought in with us back into the car and thanked Mike and Gayle for their hospitality in letting us spend the night on our way back home. Mike offered to fix us breakfast before we left, but we said no - which was really hard to turn down because he makes a TERRIFIC breakfast! We said we would get something on down the road since we have over 500 miles to drive today.
We left their house about 8:30 and headed south on US-231 to US-84 in Dothan and stopped at the Burger King on the Circle and W. Main for breakfast. After breakfast we stopped at the Raceway on the south Circle for gas ($1.899 a gal) before heading south on US-231 to I-10 East. We took I-10 east to I-295 in Jacksonville and then I-95 south to the Sebastian, FL exit.
We stopped for gas a little after 6:00 at the Sunoco just after exiting I-95 and paid $1.959 a gallon. Then we stopped at Little Caesar's for a pepperoni pizza and a Crazy Combo (breadsticks and sauce) to have for dinner. We arrived home at 6:30 after driving 504 miles today - one of our longest days driving on this trip.
Well - you know how good it feels to get back home after a trip? That's how good we felt until we found out
This morning Mike took Tinker out for a walk and got a luggage cart on his way back to our room. He put Tinker on it and took a photo of Tinker riding on the cart.
We checked out of the La Quinta in Meridian, MS at 8:30 and went to the
We checked out the La Quinta in Jacksonville, TX this morning a little before 8:00 ($81.36 for the room). We stopped at the Denny's near the motel for breakfast and we both ordered the Scrambled Eggs & Cheddar Breakfast (Senior).
We took US-79 up to Henderson and then TX-43 north to I-20 east and stopped at a Raceway in Shreveport at 9:30 to get gas ($1.789 a gal),
We didn't stop for lunch since we had had such a large breakfast and we arrived at the La Quinta in Meridian at 4:30. We did stop for bathroom breaks and to walk Tinker.
After checking in at the motel and checking out our room, we went to the Pizza Hut nearby for dinner and ordered 2 individual pan pizzas and Mike had the salad bar. By 6:00 we were back in our room for the night.
We drove 417 miles today. We used our La Quinta Rewards for tonight's room, so it's not costing anything.
This morning we left Carole's house and started our trip back to the east. Carole offered to make us breakfast before we left, but we said we would just get something on the road since she was leaving this morning to go spend a couple of days with some friends. Carole did give us some snacks to take with us. We were on the road by 8:45 and were heading south to go to Centerville.
We stopped at the Burger King in Glen Rose about 9:15 for breakfast where we had our usual croissants with sausage for Mike and bacon for me with orange juice and coffee.
After breakfast we drove south along county roads and passed through Meridian where I took a photo of the Bosque County Courthouse.
and from there we drove to Waco and then east to Centerville.
I wanted to stop by the Leon County Genealogical Society in Centerville to do some research on Mike's Fletcher and Manning ancestors that lived in that county in the 1800's. We arrived in Centerville about noon and found a parking place on E. Main Street by the courthouse. The genealogical society doesn't open until 1:00, so we walked Tinker and then sat down on a bench and ate some of the snacks that Carole had given us.
While Mike stayed with Tinker, I walked over to the circuit clerk's office to do some research, but didn't find any new information. Then I walked back over to the Genealogical Society's office (it was a little after 1:00) and it was closed. I checked with the office next door and they said someone had just left the society and was going to be gone the rest of the day. I would have called the society's phone to be sure someone would be there today, but they don't have a phone number listed on their website.
But I did get to see the restored courtroom for the district court. It's on the second floor and I took a few photos. The current courthouse (the 3rd courthouse) was built in 1886 on the site of 1858 courthouse that burned down in November 1885. The courtroom was restored to its
