Let the adventure begin. Last year we decided we wanted to spend some time in Florida to escape the nasty winter weather in western New York. So we started looking for places to rent and quickly got overwhelmed. Where to look? How long to stay? This was a HUGE step for me--call it a leap of faith, if you will. See, every 4 months I have tests which determine whether the cancer has returned for round 5. I do not usually plan anything this far in advance because I refuse to pay a ton of money and have chemo in some far-away land.
Then I got the big idea! How about living for a change whatever the circumstance? What a concept. So we paid for the Florida house and in December found out I was still cancer-free!!



So here we are in a land far away waiting for warmer weather. Now to most of you, 60 degrees wouldn't be so bad but when you were thinking 80, it kind of ticks you off. Today the rain decided to further keep us indoors, but we're hopeful for tomorrow.



We left Brocton on Thursday, Jan. 29 around 9:30 a.m. after the plows had a chance to clear the roads. It was 19 degrees and our windshield washer froze up for about the first 4 hours. Had to keep stopping and wiping it down with snow. We planned to see a niece in NC and one in VA but like drunken sailors on a binge, we just kept piling on the miles with no side trips. Got somewhere in NC Thursday night and at 7:25 the next day, we were off again. Hey we can do 700 miles in a day, right? We're old but not slow.



So we limped into Venice Florida to my uncle's house on Friday night after a delicious dinner of ice cream from the old DQ. (One of us was sensible and ate real food but it wasn't me)



Ah...it's Saturday and tomorrow we can move into our rental. We were able to get a quick peek at the place to see what we needed. The house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and gorgeous to boot. On Sunday, we moved in and then it was on to the grocery store to stock up on necessities. $192.00 later we left the store without toothpaste, paper towels, butter and a whole bunch of other stuff we still need to buy.



Ray (the other half of this adventure) was limping around like Chester on Gunsmoke. He had an ingrown toenail that needed to be removed so that was his adventure so far in the south. Oh wait, I almost forgot. Those of you who know him will not be surprised to know he had the van washed. Iare say we had the filthiest vehicle on the road till then. Even I was bugging him to wash it.

We left our new digs last night to have dinner with Jack and Carol (aunt and uncle) so now I can add gravy to the list of things not to eat. Left in a hurry. I will spare you the details and you will be so glad I did.

Tonight we're going back there for meatloaf. Prayers gratefully accepted. But first it's off to WalMart which I thought we left behind in NY, to get bandages, etc. So right now I'm going to think about how to put pictures on this thing and then head out. Stayed tuned for more exciting details on As The Stomach Turns.