Sunday, June 15 — Our trip to San Diego was wonderful because we got to see many loved ones. It was a reminder of how blessed we were in terms of deeply rooted relationships. The crazy part was that, even though we saw loved ones every day, we still didn’t get to see everyone that we’d wanted to.

And we have loved ones in Florida, too. In addition to Johnny and Joanne, we have two sets of very long time, dear friends on the west coast. Today, we drove over to the west coast for an overnight trip to see them.

While Christi unpacked and re-packed, Eric finished preparing for the workers to come on Monday morning. He removed the electronics panel and steering wheel, and moved stuff out of spaces where they’d be working. 

We departed at 0915, taking the I-75, a toll-highway, across the state. it was dubbed Alligator Alley because alligators were known to wander out on the road, though we didn’t see any. In contrast to Southern California, Florida was flat, very green and had tons of ponds and waterways. With so much water around, it was no surprise that alligators flourished here.

We exited the highway in Bonita Springs and navigated to Scott’s house. Scott was a friend from college who we’ve stayed close with all these decades. We’ve been through so many of life’s ups and downs with Scott, and there are few people who know us better than he does. It was great to see him again! While we’d spoken on the phone with his girlfriend, Sheila, before we’d never met her in person, and it was lovely to get to know her.