Dallas

   With so much to see and do over the weekend, I was ready and made an early start the next morning. Making my way to the coffee shop I found Darth there. He wasn't joking about being an early riser, he had already had his first coffee for the day. Darth and I met when I left Yahoo and ended up, after checking out a few other sites, at TA. Being a little suspicious of the hordes that had invaded TA, Darth, then a CM, had decided to "keep an eye" on the newcomers. I am pleased that he did, as, within a short time, we had become friends. Darth was a regular in my room, and one of the few men to join in the "singing". This endeared him to me even more. We have shared many funny times, also many serious ones.

    I joined Darth and, wanting to buy a pastry to go with my coffee, I extended my handful of accumulated change and asked him to sort out the change. A little rifling soon produced what was needed. The money, though NZ did use decimal currency, was so different and it took a long time before I felt comfortable with it. (Even after many months of use I still confuse the two, logic tells me that the coin size should be in relation to its value.......wrong!).
Being alone, I tried to determine the chances of getting Darth's bunny shorts, something we had joked many times about in chat. Darth obviously had other plans and at the end of the weekend, I came away empty handed. I suspect that the shorts had been deemed to valuable to risk having them stolen.

    Sunday night, and for some, Monday, was time to return home. For many of us, this would be the only meeting we would have and the farewells were emotional. I said my goodbyes, and my thanks, to Ny. She had taken a big step in inviting me into her home, and I hoped she hadn't regretted it. (I was assured she didn't). Ny would make her long drive home while I made another flight, this time to North Carolina. A surprise for me was to find that I would have company, as far as Chicago, where I was to change flights. I had seen MrsR name in TA, but had not chatted with her. The flight gave us the chance to get to know each other and we got on well. MrsR proved to be an excellent companion, and joined me in "harassing" the poor flight attendant. He must have enjoyed the harassing though, as, with few passengers on the flight and therefore time to spare, he spent most of the flight talking with us.

   Rickibabe and Mickeye were at the airport when I arrived. Mick's husband, Phil, stood aside quietly as the three of us noisily greeted each other. Laughter and hugs were proving to be the norm with each face to face meeting, but here was the only place that an elevator was blocked due to hugging! This meeting was especially sweet as there had been doubts that Ricki would be able to join us. Ricki's husband could not understand how friendships could be made over a computer and he was against us meeting at all. (Many months later, he doesn't ask "who" when my name comes up in conversation, is this an acceptance? ) I had met Ricki first and I showed her, the putz as she calls herself, how to set up sounds. This took a considerable amount of time, so much time that we really got to know each other. We often laugh about the test our friendship had to endure. It was months later that Mick joined our group. I discovered that Mick could only remember a few names and, as mine was one of them, she would join me wherever I was. This was the result of a major stroke that Mick has battled to recover from. When I think of Mick, an especially funny typo comes to mind...."wonderfuk"! Mick is so quiet in chat that we have to drag conversation out of her at times and then she comes out with that typo! Another positive for chat, Mick's husband has credited chatting as aiding in Mick's recovery.

    As I only had one night here, we crammed as much as we could into it. First we went to Mick's home, here I used her computer to make my daily contact with Mike. Along with coffee was fresh, home grown, strawberries and ice cream that Mick had promised. Dinner at the Red Lobster followed and this was fun. The waiter had a little trouble understanding me, to make it worse, I had trouble understanding him! Ricki and Mick weren't much help, they were too busy laughing. I did finally get my order understood, and enjoyed a great meal. The evening came to an end and there was a surprise in store for me. Ricki was booked into the hotel for the night too!

    Bidding goodnight to Mick and Phil, Ricki and I made our way to the room. Like two schoolgirls, we talked into the early hours of the morning. We were painfully aware that this would probably be the only time we would meet and we were both reluctant to waste any time by sleeping. It should have been no surprise, in the morning, to find that my throat was sore, a combination of too much smoking, talking and laughing. Having the bags in order again, it was time to go. Ricki drove me to the airport and, after weepy farewells I left NC, heading for Ohio. On route to Ohio, I had a brief, 32 minutes to be exact, stopover at Dulles, Wash DC. At each stopover, I would take the opportunity to have a cigarette. Dulles airport remains vivid in my mind for the sprint I made through terminals looking for the smoking room. By the time I located it, it was time to sprint back to make the flight!

     Daydreamer, who had been so patient while I made the many adjustments to my travel plans, was waiting for me. We hugged, and I laughed when I realised I really did have 7 inches over her! This thought was the result of a conversation many, many months previous when the discussion was height. That was the night that I found out that that Day was vertically challenged, (can I have a medal for using politically correct terminology?). I was getting into a routine with the bag collecting by now and they were soon stowed in the trunk of the car. A short drive followed and we arrived at Pat's home, where I was to spend more than a week.

    New tastes awaiting me here were jalapeno poppers, blooming onions, grits (which I ate with sugar and milk on them), sweet potato (nothing like the sweet potato I knew), cinnamon lifesavers, (that flavour is not available in NZ), and snickerdoodles. On the first day, I was asked if I minded having a companion at night. Before my mind went into overdrive, I was told that Nash, a large dog, was scared of storms and the room I was vacating was his usual hiding place. As he paniced to the point of damaging himself, at the first threat of a storm, he was brought inside. I suppose it was fortunate that not all four, very large, dogs suffered the same fears. The other three all stayed in their sleeping quarters in the barn.

    Day and I took a day trip to Indiana where we met up with a mutual chat friend from Yahoo. A full day was planned, and first stop was the Indianapolis Racing Museum. I loved the old cars, more so than the racing ones. I could just see myself, parasol in hand, in one of those cars. A mall was next, a huge mall!! Walking along, head swivelling from side to side, trying to take everything in, I heard Man and Day laughing. Turning around, I saw they were on the other side of the escalator.It isn't just roads that are on the wrong side, people walk on the wrong side in malls! Habit had me exiting from an escalator and naturally turning right when most others headed left.It was in this mall that I discovered that Americans do not use the word serviette. I soon learnt to ask for a napkin after being embarrassed by a sales girl. I wanted a serviette but my request was met with a blank stare with the girl again asking what I wanted. Repeating my request I was met with the same blank stare....through the whole procedure again, request, blank stare. Day finally came to my aid, leading me, now very red faced, to the station where they were stored. Our day ended with dinner at the Outback restaurant, where I tried the sweet potato, (too sweet!)after which we bade farewell to Man and headed back to Ohio.

    A lunchdate with Cj, (we had met in San Antonio), at an Amish eatery caused comments, and not very complimentary ones, when I put beets into my burger. Obviously, everyone doesn't have beetroot, (beets) on their burger, but kiwi's do. My time with Day was filled with something new to see, or do, every day. I learned how to ride a farm bike, was taken, by Day's husband, for a tour of his funeral home, (not something the usual tourist gets to see!), had my first experience of drive through banking, and was educated about beanie babies, Day's profitable hobby. All this was done with non stop talking, something that is not new to me as my friends will attest too.