Michigan Misadventures, Madness, & Merriment, Part 1

Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Well, Kimberly and I were supposed to to leave for a ten-day trip to Michigan early this morning — Greensboro to Midland/Bay City/Saginaw Airport by way of Detroit — but during the night, we received an alert that our outbound flight was delayed long enough that we'd miss our connection to MBS. Our only option was to book a 7:00 p.m. flight out of Greensboro and arrive at MBS around 10:30 p.m. Thus, we went for it... but this flight, too, ended up delayed, so guess what? No Michigan trip for us on this day. We rescheduled yet again, this time for tomorrow — the 6 a.m. flight out of Greensboro, which meant getting up at 3:15 a.m. Then, of course, just before bedtime, Delta Airlines notified us that the 6 a.m. flight to Detroit was delayed an hour.

So... will we make it tomorrow? Who the fook knows?

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Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Given our flight delay, instead of getting up at 3:15 a.m., we slept in late (4:15 a.m.) and hit the highway for GSO. We arrived on time, checked in, and... wait, what?! Our plane has no crew? Correct. We have no crew. So, for most of an hour, we're waiting for word on whether we'll actually get airborne sometime today.

Finally, the pilot and co-pilot stumbled in off the street and mounted up. They managed to get the engines going, but we didn't go wheels up until well after 8:00 a.m. Our schedule originally called for a two-hour layover in Detroit, so, given the extended delays, the chances of making our connection now — again — appeared slim. However, to their credit, the pilots made up incredible time in the air because, upon landing in Detroit, we deplaned, made a beeline to our gate, and somehow ended up with a few minutes to spare before boarding. Thankfully, the DTW to MBS flight went off without a hitch, and Ms. B.'s friend Darren very kindly came to pick us up and transport us to her folks' place.Yay! Thank you, Darren!

 

We spent some quality time with Del & Fern, who've both been through the ringers, health-wise. Then, after a wee bite of lunch, Ms. B. went to take to a nap, and I wandered down to find a fun, relatively new geocache in the neighborhood.

 

Once Kimberly was out of bed, we hied ourselves over to Meijer for provisions (always a necessity upon our arriving in Midland) and stopped for a geocache on the way (also a necessity upon arriving in Midland).

 

I discovered that we are (thankfully) missing out on some serious storms back home. A friend just posted the photo below from our neighborhood. They live at the end of a cul-de-sac, so they won't be going anywhere until that big honking tree is removed. I'm hoping the many monster trees that surround our house continue to hold out.

After showering and washing off the vestiges of airplanes, airports, and big box stores, Ms. B. and I drove into downtown Midland, grabbed a couple of geocaches, and killed some vittles at Beatniks. It's a relatively new restaurant she'd visited on a previous visit or two, but this was my first time. We sat at their nice outdoor terrace, and I quite enjoyed the atmosphere and dinner— banh mi buns and an excellent gin martini for me and veal & beef meatballs and a nice chardonnay for Ms. B. We wandered around downtown for a spell and stopped in for a final drink at Gratzi, a reasonably upscale Italian restaurant we've enjoyed a handful of times, though this time just for spirits.

 

Since this was our first night in Midland, we wanted to spend most of the evening with Del & Fern, so once back at Casa di Brugger, we settled ourselves in the downstairs family room, which is a long-time tradition with the folks, and enjoyed each other's company until it was time to retire. Since we'd started our day well before dawn, I'm surprised Kimberly and I lasted as long as we did. It's been over a year since I've been here, though now that I'm back, it feels like no time at all.

I had some coffee early in the evening, but it was obviously broken because I'm told I started snoring. So, I reckon we'll be hard at it again tomorrow. G'night, all.

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Thursday, July 23, 2026

I woke up to a pleasant chill in the air, rather than the disgusting, tropical humidity that has become the standard summertime environment back home. There are indeed times that Michigan's general climate suits me far better, but then... oh, my lord... here comes winter. Hoo dogs! Maybe it is not my environment...

 

Still, it was a beautiful morning for going out geocaching. After a light breakfast and plenty of coffee, I set out on Del's old bicycle for Stratford Woods Park, a couple of miles down the road. A good many newer caches had been placed there since my last trip to Midland, although even those now date back a ways. I ended up going bust on a couple of the hunts, leading me to believe those containers have gone missing. Happily, I found several others, a couple of which were tricky. Although it did get warm and fairly humid out there, It wasn't like trying to breathe the mayonnaise as it is back home, and I didn't suffer any assaults by mosquitoes. Now, here's a thing: Michigan mosquitoes may be the meanest, rotten, bitingest little fuckers I've ever encountered anywhere... well, except for maybe Venice, Italy. But Midland is the only location where I've had to give up on a geocaching outing due to mosquitoes.Thankfully, not today.

Well, damnation. I'd had a (very mild) migraine yesterday during our flight up, and wouldn't you know it, here comes another one. At least this one was no worse than yesterday's, so I was able to continue caching without undue difficulty or pain (sometimes my headaches can turn pretty monstrous). After returning to la casa, I still needed about 3,000 steps to meet my daily goal, as my phone doesn't count pedaling the bike. So, I went out and ran around the neighborhood, much like I do at home, although it's considerably easier here because the terrain is mostly flat.

 

Mid-afternoon, I started cooking tonight's dinner: a hamburger soup loosely based on a recipe from Drew Cooks, which I follow religiously. Drew is funny as hell, and some of the recipes I've tried have turned out to be dynamite. Not necessarily healthy, but delicious. I always customize, improvise, or otherwise fuck around with every recipe that I attempt, and we always enjoy what I cook. It's my custom to provide at least a dinner or two for the family when we're here, and I think there will also be some Italian goodies in the works on this trip.

 

The soup turned out fantastic, by the way. It's like a delicious hamburger in a bowl.

After dinner, Kimberly and I went out and about for a bit, first to Clock & Candle Brewatorium, a relatively new establishment with a cool selection of their unique brews. I tried their Bag o' Beans Coffee Brown, which is brewed with the coffee made by Live Oak Coffeehouse here in Midland, which we love. Twas good. Then we shifted over to nearby Nord Social, which, I must say, played the best mellow, evocative techno music I may have ever heard. It was beautiful. Now, I understand that on some nights, it gets so crowded and loud that you can't hear yourself think. That's definitely not my thing, so I'm glad the noise level was tolerable. Ms. B. has been going through a hell of a tough time dealing with her folks' health situations for quite a while now, so she and I spent quite a while talking about her life in Midland, friends, current experiences, joys, stressors, etc. We've been together for roughly sixteen years, yet this turned out to be some of the most meaningful sharing of history and feelings between us, well, ever. This meant the world to me, and I think to her as well.

 

Tomorrow looks busy. I sleep now.

At Clock & Candle Brewatorium

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Friday, July 24, 2026

I woke up pretty early, had a quick breakfast, ran three miles around the neighborhood, and cleaned out some gutters for Del. Then Kimberly and I went in search of new phones because our current ones are going on seven years old and have been sputtering along for a while now. We'd bought them just before we went on our first Europe trip in 2019, so these critters feel like they're almost as old as we are. Kimberly had gotten her dad's new phone at the Walmartz on her previous trip here and was impressed by the gentleman who'd helped them. Happily, he was on hand again to help us. Indeed, he set us up with the best deals we could get, and now we now have new phones (which are in the process of updating as I write). I hope the new ones hold out at least as long as the old buggers. We shall see...

 

There — I took a photo of me with the new phone camera. Somehow, I think the old one picked up less of the ugly. 

 

It took a couple of hours to get the phones purchased and set up, so by the time all was said and done, the Great Starvation had gripped us. Lunch at Molasses sounded good, so that's where we headed — after stopping for me to grab a quick geocache. Molasses has long been my favorite BBQ joint anywhere... seriously, yes, in Michigan... and the foodz today was first rate, as always.

Since we've been out and about very evening since our arrival, Ms. B. and I opted stay home with Del & Fern, help them watch television; futz around with the settings, apps, and updates on our phones; and other such business. Till laters!

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Saturday, July 25, 2026

Up pretty early again today. Light breakfast, coffee, and then out to Stratford Woods Park again for some more woodland geocaching. The temperature was perfect — mid 70s with low humidity — and I found three fun hides. Then I rode a short distance over to what is apparently a popular local fishing spot called Three Ponds (maybe because there are three ponds here) to hunt a cache called "Fishing for a Cache" (GCBE9TX). This one was pretty challenging because it resides on a very steep bank close to the water's edge, and you really don't want want to lose your footing here, especially when you have a brand new phone in your pocket. Fortunately, I maintained my balance and happened to spy the cache in fairly short order (you can see it in the photo at left). A fun outing all around.

Kimberly and I had entertained the idea of getting pasties for lunch at Midland Pasty Company, but dang if they weren't closed today. If you don't know about pasties, well, by Yog, you oughta. And maybe watch Jeff Daniels' screamingly funny Escanaba in da Moonlight (2001). We ended up grabbing chicken from Popeye's, about which I have not one complaint. I love me some Popeye's chicken, and I got the wings with ghost pepper rub. Not as hot as all that, but delicious nonetheless.

A carpet of ferns in Stratford Woods Park

Big turtle, baby Gamera, or geocache?

View of the pond from "Fishing for a Cache"

Ms. B. spent a good portion of the afternoon working, running errands with her mom, and going shopping with friend Darren, so I devoted myself to working on the blog and some new fiction. Once she returned, I cooked up a couple of killer burgers and mixed vegetables for dinner. We then made ourselves almost presentable and ventured out to Oxygen, where I found a fookin' fine dirty gin martini. Then we wandered back to Nord Social, which we'd visited a couple of evenings ago. Here, they have this thing they call the Botanic Martini. I'm not sure it's really a martini, but it's certainly botanical, and it's one of the most distinctive, spicy libations ever to burn my lips. To say I fookin' love it is an understatement so grotesque it's like saying Kimberly is just kinda purty. Here's the description at the top of the menu:

At last, it was back to Casa di Brugger to spend a nice evening hanging out with Del & Fern. In the morning, we'll be off to the next phase of this particular Michigan Madness. And so, friends, till then.

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Sunday, July 26, 2026

It wasn't planned (not by a long shot), but I woke up very early, and so decided to tumble out of bed and get going. Coffee (lots), breakfast (a little), running (fast and hard), and then packing. Yep, one of the primary reasons for the timing of this trip — in addition to helping Kimberly's parents out at every turn — was to meet longtime friends and geocaching partners Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom) & Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda) from Greensboro in Traverse City, MI, and take a boat trip out to Power Island in Grand Traverse Bay (in the southeastern arm of Lake Michigan) to hunt Michigan's oldest geocache, "Power Island" (GC35). They've been devising this plan for a while, and since Kimberly and I knew we'd need to come to Michigan around this time, the plans to meet up here wove together beautifully.

 

The only complication now is that there are potentially severe storms in tomorrow's forecast. We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

 

Anyway, Brugger and I left Midland at 11:00 a.m. sharp for a roughly three-hour drive to Traverse City. We stopped in Clare for lunch at Mancino's, listened to a lot of 80s music as we drove, grabbed a few caches, and arrived at our lodgings (The Vic Hotel) around 2:00 p.m. It's a cool place, very comfortable, with all the necessary amenities and more. Once we'd settled in, we decided to make our way around the town and see what we could see. The first place we found was Left Foot Charley Wine & Hard Cider, a few miles to the west, which frankly surprised us with its high quality. This corner of Michigan has long been known for its Reisling wines, but we discovered some utterly delicious reds and other whites here as well. Their Blaufrankisch stood out as particularly good.

 

From there, we ventured over to Rove Winery, a few more miles out of town, which might have been even better. Here, the tasting room and environs offered a lovely, panoramic view of the surrounding countryside, which struck us as rather akin to our region back home (Virginia's Piedmont). Their TrÍ red wine made me even happier than a slap in the belly with a wet trout. Make no mistake, wine-wise, we're not talking Europe, California, or Pacific Northwest, but compared to the up-and-coming wine regions of North Carolina and Virginia, these vintages more than held their own. They actually put the North Carolina stuff to shame (admittedly, not a huge compliment).

 

By now, we needed some solid vittles, so we found a lovely dinner at Harrington's by the Bay, which fulfilled all our cravings except for those of the economic variety. Hoooey, shit is expensive around here. After that, I found a couple of more caches, and then we settled in at The Vic to mellow out. Tomorrow promises to be a big day... I just hope the weather doesn't deal us any nasty blows.

 

Till then.

View of the countryside from Rove Winery

Oh, look. They have wine glasses in their hands. Go figure.

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Go to "Michigan Misadventures, Madness, & Merriment, Part 2"

Midland Meanderings

Since Brugger's folks in Midland, Michigan, are getting up there in years and require more help than they did once upon a time, we do our best to venture northward and spend time with them several times a year. This was the week for our Spring trip, which coincidentally fell over Easter weekend.

Waiting for Del & Fern to pick us up from the airport as the rain pours down

Friday, April 18, 2025
Because getting an even remotely reasonable rate for flights typically means traveling at the least desirable times of day, Brugger and I got up at 4:00 a.m. and drove to Greensboro for a 7:15 a.m. Delta Airlines flight to Saginaw (MBS) by way of Detroit (DTW). Both outbound flights were slow to get off the ground but made up time in the air, so we arrived in Saginaw right on time at 11:15 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Del & Fern arrived to pick us up, and so, off we zoomed to Casa di Brugger. Rain was coming down in blinding sheets, and driving proved kind of hazardous, but we thankfully made it to our destination damp but none the worse for wear.

 

I'd had a miserable night, with less than three hours of sleep, so once we were settled in, Brugger and I half-zonked out for a little while. We needed groceries and other provisions, so once she and I had at least partly regained our senses, we made our traditional first-day-in-Midland pilgrimage to Meijer...which was a freaking madhouse. Usually, things in this town are pretty mellow, but Judas Priest...I've never seen such a frenetic, wall-to-wall, oppressive bunch of human beings seething and roiling in confined spaces since I lived in Chicago. Oy! Anyhoo, we stocked up with goodies, I grabbed a geocache, and back to the barn we flew.

 

For dinner, Ms. B. and I headed to Molasses, where they smoke the best dead animal this side of Hillsborough, NC. The Three Amigos sandwich—loaded with brisket, pulled pork, and bacon—may be the finest concoction of smoked meats anywhere. The accompanying Maple Old Fashioned didn't cause me any grief, either. Once done, I sought and found another nearby geocache, and then we returned to the casa, to spend the rest of the evening in traditional fashion: with the family in front of the downstairs TV.

I didn't make it very late.

The Three Amigos sandwich with dill potato salad at Molasses in Midland

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Having been seriously sleep deprived the past few nights, I slept in a little later than usual this morning. Once up and reasonably refreshed, I set out after some geocaches, the first couple of which were out on the Père Marquette Rail Trail, near downtown Midland. The morning started out dreary and cold, with a stiff wind blowing, but after a while, the sun came out and I warmed up very quickly. Once off the trail, I parked the car at a fairly central location near downtown and set out on foot after several more caches. Most of them were quick and easy, but at one of them, I dropped the unique container as I was returning it to its proper location, and...horror of horrors...I was unable to find it again. I never like to be responsible for losing anyone's cache, so I drove up to Meijer, picked up some implements to fashion a replacement, and returned to the scene of the accident. It's not the world's most permanent solution, but I hope the substitute container will hold up until the cache owner can set it back to rights, if he so desires.

 

At the Jefferson Street overpass above Highway U.S. 10, one of the nationwide "Hands Off!" protests of the current administration was going on, so I headed over to support the effort; I didn't realize an advance sign-up was required, though (I'm guessing because a limited number of people could occupy the bridge at the same time), so I sufficed to drive by and offer some serious honking and waving to show solidarity. I don't know how much good these protests stand a chance of doing, but it is heartening to see the growing pushback against the malignant policies of a narcissistic, moronic tool who's done more damage to this country, our international relations/alliances, and basic human rights than any other in my lifetime, if not ever. I'm glad to see increasing resistance from official quarters as well, and it's more than about time.

 

For dinner, Ms. B. slow-cooked a pork tenderloin all day to make Bahn-Mi rice bowls. We'd made this dish at home a while back, and it was good, so the folks were keen on trying it out. This time... it was even better. One of Brugger's finest concoctions! 

Art under the U.S. 10 overpass on the Pere Marquette Rail Trail

The trail along the Titabawassee River

The Currie Street suspension bridge viewed from the trail

View of the "Hands-Off" bridge takeover (from the event's webpage)

Brugger's pulled pork banh mi rice bowl. Delicious!

Afterward, I spent some time writing, and Ms. B. had freelance work she needed to complete. Eventually, we retired to the downstairs den for our traditional family time, mainly watching some of Del & Fern's favorite evening shows. A most welcome, mellow evening.

Tomorrow...believe it or not...we are going to church with the folks.

Sunday, April 20, 2025

There's a bing-bonging clock in the house that chimes the hour, starting at 6:00 a.m., and it usually doesn't wake me up, but today it did. I lay there for a while but didn't go back to sleep, so when the chiming started again at 7:00, I staggered on out of bed. It was as well that I did because I wanted to start prepping our midday dinner fairly early. Fern had very kindly prepared some breakfast for me—waffles and sausage, which were delicious—so once I'd laid waste to those and fortified myself with coffee, I commenced to chopping up steaks, browning the meat in the skillet, and dropping it in the crock pot. If all goes as planned, it'll turn into Beef Stroganoff somewhere around 1:00 p.m.

 

I still had plenty of time before getting ready for church, so I went walking after a couple of newer geocaches less than a mile from the casa. I found those with no problem and then hoofed it back home.

 

So, off to church we went, and Del & Fern saw many of their friends they hadn't seen in some time, many of whom knew Kim. The services there are "contemporary," with a band that plays modern Christian music. Today, it was an uplifting, to-the-point message with lots of rocking Christian tunes. If you follow me, you probably know I'm not exactly "of the faith," but I grew up in it, and my experiences were generally positive. I know a lot of people who can't say that. For today, the only thing that has really pissed me off was Trump's disgusting, wholly false, and inappropriate Easter message. "Unfit" is a gross understatement. Whatever failings this country has ever had in the past—with our policies, our politicians, our relationships—Trump exemplifies everything that we as a country should never be.

Thing is, in that church we went to this morning, that awful human being clearly has an awful lot of devoted fans. I do not approve.

 

The Beef Stroganoff turned out to be fantastic. As with most of my concoctions, I'll probably never quite reproduce it since I rarely use an actual recipe, and when I do, I usually turn it inside out before all is said and done. And dammit, I forgot to buy parsley, which I like to throw on top of the dish, both for garnish and because parsley is delicious.

During the afternoon, I put in some serious writing time and a bit of fussing on Facebook. Ms. B. had to work on some more freelance projects, but after she finished, we needed to make another provision run to Meijer. I found some oysters, so I made oyster stew for my supper—which was fantastic, no matter what any of the non-aficionados of snotty shellfish in the house (which is all of them) might tell you. And we ended the shopping outing by hunting a geocache, which was marginally challenging and a lot painful, given the particular variety of greenery sheltering its hiding place.

 

I may have overtaxed my brain "debating" some contentious points with people on Facebook, but sometimes, it's what I must do. Apart from that, for the rest of the evening, we spent our traditional family time in front of the television. And that's all kinds of perfect.

Midland Nazarene Church

The plated Beef Stroganoff (sans parsley). Delicious!

Monday, April 21, 2025

I woke up before dawn to the sound of crashing thunder and heavy raindrops on the roof. The storm didn't last long, though, so I went back to sleep and remained oblivious even through the bing-bonging of the living room clock until I crawled out of bed about 8:00 a.m. Coffee. Coffee! COFFEE!

 

Midland is full of squirrels, more than anyplace I've ever visited, I'm pretty sure. Gray squirrels, black squirrels,  red squirrels, and big brown fox squirrels. In Virginia, we have lots of grays, mostly small and skinny, but here, like most of the wildife, squirrels grow big and chubby. And most of them are tamer than our skittish little guys back home. Once Ms. B. got up and going, she went out to the backyard to feed critters, and one big fox squirrel came around and immediately made friends with her. This one didn't eat out of her hand, as some have been known to do here, but he was perfectly relaxed and ready for Ms. DeMille to take his close-up.

Sometimes, one finds odd things when out geocaching. The rain appeared to have let up for a while, so I headed out mid-morning to seek a few caches. I found all but one of them, which appeared to be missing; I found only a wire hanger where there should have been a container. At the base of its host tree, though, there were two dead little critters with a few rocks and sticks placed around them. I'm guessing one or more youngsters found the poor animals but also found the cache and removed it. I notified the cache owner, who indicated he'll replace it.

 

On Ashman Street, there's a house whose yard, every Halloween, is decorated with about a hundred skeletons, including one of the twelve-foot-tall variety. Looks like the big fellow has become a permanent fixture there. Fun stuff.

After lunch, the rest of the family went on a shopping excursion, while I stayed home to work on my current novel-in-progress. It was a productive session.

 

For a long time now, it has been clear that telemarketers have mercilessly targeted my in-laws. Because their landline rings every five to ten minutes all day, every day, I've recommended that Fern turn off the ringer and let the calls go straight to their answering machine; however, she doesn't much want to do that because they also receive a handful of legitimate calls each day. After a persistent, infuriating series of bell rings this afternoon, Fern finally yelled at the caller, "No, I'm not interested, I'm tired hearing from you, and why don't you just go into your bathroom and play with yourself?!"

 

You tell 'em, Fern.
 

Family time and bed. And g'night.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Coffee and bacon and eggs, oh my! What a fine breakfast!

Kimberly had to take her mom to a doctor appointment this morning, so I spent the morning getting in a couple of miles of walking and then writing. Again, I made decent progress. Once they got back, we went out and helped her folks with some yard work that needed doing.

Ms. B. wanted to visit an arts & crafts store in Saginaw, about thirty minutes away, so after lunch, we drove over. She headed into the store, and I headed after a couple of nearby geocaches. One of the containers was a 3-D-printed tiki figure (at left), which was kind of cool. About 30 minutes after I dropped her off, Brugger called, so I returned to pick her up. From there, we went after a couple of more hides, my favorite being one that was about 20 feet up in a big pine tree. Tree caches are among my favorite kinds, and it's been a long time since I've had a good tree climb, so this one really hit the spot. I didn't even fall out and go boom!

L: Starting the ascent; R: Hey, where's the old dude?

Oh, there he is!

At the cache

That pretty much did it for the afternoon caching, and so, from there, we returned to Midland and decided to visit Whichcraft Taproom, one of our semi-regular bar & grill hangouts in downtown. We enjoyed a couple of refreshing beverages, and then we hauled ourselves out for dinner at Fuji Sushi, the best of the Japanese/Asian restaurants we've found in Midland (there are some newer ones we haven't tried, so we'll be giving them a go on a future trip, no doubt). The sushi was very, very good, though—as with so many restaurants now—instead of a large variety of fish, you get three pieces of three different fishies. Definitely tasty, but I much prefer having several options on the plate.

Back at the casa, I had a Lovecraft eZine book discussion podcast to attend. Tonight's story discussion was "The Dunwich Horror," which is one of my favorite H.P. Lovecraft tales. It was a good discussion, as we all had unique perspectives on the story, and several of us rated it very differently in the "HPL Favorites" column. Tonight's discussion was for Patreon subscribers only, so if you have any interest in Lovecraftian horror—or cosmic horror in general—you might want to consider supporting the eZine. The amount of content and entertainment that Mike Davis provides is exceptional.

 

The usual family time in the family room followed (and I worked on this blog). Tomorrow is the last day of this Midland trip for us, but our flight doesn't leave till early evening, so we'll have most of the day here before we leave. Hopefully, we won't have any flight delays; the late-night arrivals back in Greensboro have tended to be problematic in recent days.

 

We'll see. For now, nighty-night.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

The family had a few guests pretty early this morning—Kim's cousins JoyAnn and Rosemary, and JoyAnn's husband, Bill. We spent a good while having enjoyable chats, largely about cats. Following that, Kim had to take her Dad to a doctor appointment, so I put in my daily steps and made some forward progress with the current novel.

 

Late in the afternoon, we packed up to leave and headed out to the Saginaw airport (MBS). Our departing flight was slightly delayed, but it wasn't significant enough to impact our connection in Detroit. I must say, they make very good, very spicy bloody marys at the single little bar & grill at MBS. Once in Detroit, we found that our Greensboro flight was also delayed, but again, not significantly. We had just enough time to grab fair-to-middlin' sandwiches from Subway for worse-than-extortionate prices.

 

We arrived back in Greensboro around 11:00 p.m., less than an hour later than our scheduled arrival time. And wonder of wonders, by the time we got down to baggage claim, our single suitcase was already there waiting for us. Hooray! Anyway, we hit the road for Martinsville and got home just about midnight. We'd found some hot red-pepper stuffed olives in Midland, and I couldn't resist having a martini nightcap with a couple of those. HOOOO, YEAH, they is delicious!

All in all, it was a nice trip to see the folks, and I'm especially glad that we've been able to give them some help (Kimberly doing a hell of a lot, of course), particularly with things that have become more physically challenging for them. I so hope that we'll be able to keep this arrangement going for the foreseeable future.

 

A new cache in Martinsville awaited my attention once we returned. A nice first-to-find on Thursday, April 24, at 8:15 a.m. Yay!