Back in USA

Our last weeks at home in Ballina went very fast. My friends Jenny and Leonie came for a last girls' get together, and my sister Ret made a last minute, but very welcome decision, to join us. As usual the four of us had lots of laughs. We also had a last family dinner for 9 of us at our usual round table at the Chinese Restaurant on the Saturday, and the Sunday we were treated to Gemma's delicious roast chicken dinner and a special travellers blessing - thanks Gerard, Lew and Catherine! Next morning, Bill kindly agreed to accompany us for a 4.30am departure for the Gold Coast airport, and drove our car back to Ballina. 

Jen, Trish and Leonie walking to dinner

Leonie Ret and Jen lunching at Melba's

Before we knew it, we were in Sydney preparing to board our aircraft for USA. As luck would have it, Benn was also at the Sydney International airport ready to pilot an aircraft to Manila, so we had a chance to say hello and goodbye one last time before leaving. Hopefully he and Daina will get to join us in the RV somewhere in America this trip. 

We had a smooth flight to Dallas, Texas, and we both caught up on the latest movies. From Dallas we had a connecting flight to Tampa, Florida where our friends Rainie and Tom met us at the airport at 7.30pm - 29 hours after we left Ballina. We were ready for bed! Next day Rainie had to go to work, and Tom took us to Verizon (Phone company) where we updated our old internet USB that could only plug into one laptop and replaced it with a 4G WIFI that does up to 5 devices, just like our Telstra one at home. Murray and I each bought our laptops over, plus I have my iPhone where my games are, so now we are cooking with gas. Not only did we get the latest device for a one-off $30 upgrade fee, but we were on an old plan whereas the new plan is $10 cheaper a month for the same 5 GB per month. Very happy with that! While many of the RV parks have free wifi, because there are so many people using it, the speed can be slow - with our 4G WIFI, our internet and games will be much faster than ever before.

Following our trip to the Verizon store, Tom kindly took us to Walmart - just had to pay a visit and reacquaint ourselves! Now we KNOW we are back in America - we have no Walmart in Australia. 

After Rainie got home from work she changed into her horse riding gear, and I accompanied her to a nearby horse park where she has two riding lessons a week. I was able to watch her put her horse Tedders through his paces ready for an event they are competing in this weekend. 

Rainie leading Tedders in to saddle up

Rainie putting Tedders through his paces

About to enter the Theatre

Then it was home for Tom's steak dinner before making our way into the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Tampa. The four of us had tickets for a New Broadway Production called Burn the Floor. Many of the cast were not only Australians, but many were finalists in various countrys' version of 'So you Think You Can Dance' or 'Dancing With The Stars' or were Broadway or West End dancers. Talk about energy - those guys and gals can really dance! 

Now I am up to date. Tomorrow we meet up with friends Kathy and Milt who spend their summers on the East Coast of Florida in their second home. Their main home is in North Dakota, but the winters are pretty nasty there, so many locals escape south. We will stay with Kathy and Milt until we board our cruise ship on Sunday 29 April.