Friday February 27, 2009

Today was a day of flexibility. We checked out and got to the lab at the usual time. The only one there at first was Jeff and he said he was only staying for two hours as he had to give a talk at his son's school for Dinosaur Month. He says that is the greatest consternation of archaeologists: everyone expects them to be experts on dinosaurs when it is paleontologists who study this field. I'm sure the kids will enjoy his talk anyway. Thadra came in a bit late as they were late getting back in from the field last night and Carla was not feeling well so was taking a sick day. Since we had finished our project, we decided to say goodbye to the people both upstairs and down that we had made friends with and get on the road. We had expected to work half a day, but ended up leaving at 9:15 so on to Plan B. We got on the highway and decided to spend the afternoon at Cape Canaveral. What we didn't realize was how much time it would take us to get there. As we got closer we could see that there wouldn't be enough time to really see the whole space center so we went to Plan C. We stopped at 2 in the afternoon in Titusville and gave our friends Mel and Dottie Fringer a call. Mel taught English at Fitch and Dottie taught business education at Ledyard. They were really surprised to hear from us and invited us over to their house. What a great time we had! They have been retired for 16 years and they look wonderful! They have a lovely home here in Titusville - lots of room and a beautiful screened Florida room complete with pool. We sat out on the patio and chatted about mutual friends both retired and those who are still teaching. We met their Siamese kitties, Margaret and Jackson, and caught up with their news. They go on a couple of birding trips each year. They just got back from India and are going to South Africa in the fall. They also volunteer one day a week at the National Wildlife Refuge here. They still have a camper and go with a local club one weekend a month. They also do a trip with the camper each summer to get out of the Florida heat ending up the trip in Nebraska for reuniting with family. We went out to dinner at a local seafood restaurant, Dixie Crossroads. If you are ever in this area, you have to stop! It was a huge restaurant, but well run and the food was delicious!! My favorite part of the meal was the rock shrimp - they are smaller than regular shrimp, but very tasty. We drove back to their house and said our goodbyes and got back to the motel at 9:30. We didn't read too long as we were both really tired, but we had a really nice day visiting with old friends. By the way, for those of you who teach/taught at Fitch and are reading this blog, Mel and Dottie say hi. Tomorrow we will continue on our way to see Larry and Sandy. I think I will wear shorts for the first time tomorrow - it was in the 80's this afternoon.