From the desk 6/7/2008

This morning I woke up feeling more than ready to get away for a few days. I did some last minute laundry and then finished packing for my trip to Folly Beach. I had scheduled an appointment with Comcast to upgrade/install digital cable with HD some time between 8am – 11am this morning. The tech showed up around 9:15am and was really nice. He was able to fix the cable jack that didn’t work and then quickly got everything set up for me. This was a very pleasant experience with Comcast, which was drastically different from the last encounter I had. Hickey called me and informed me that he had gotten a late start, but that he was on his way. I used this extra time to do some things like fill up on gas, eat some lunch, and take a 2-hour nap. It was probably good that Hickey was running behind because I didn’t get much sleep between Friday night and Saturday morning so I would have been very tired driving the 5 hours it would take to get to Folly Beach. Hickey arrived shortly before 4:00 and we loaded up and hit the road.

I wisely planned for us to take the 285 bypass as I-75 southbound was closed down to only one lane due to construction. We drove straight there, not even having to stop for gas (I got about 550 miles out of one tank!). It took us right at 5 hours and the traffic was light except for one slow down near the South Carolina border due to construction. We arrived about the same time that everyone else in our group was eating dinner at Applebee’s so we decided to stop off at a Sonic to grab a quick bite for ourselves. This Sonic was unique as it seemed to employ only male skating carhops. After a five-minute struggle to get some honey mustard sauce for Hickey’s popcorn chicken we ate and then headed off to our final destination. We arrived at the beach house and unloaded our stuff. I was excited as my car was going to be parked in a garage for the next 3 days. We got a quick tour of the house and were instantly amazed at how nice it was. We were only the third group of people to stay in this house since it had been finished. All the appliances were stainless steel and brand-new. The floors were hardwood and the rooms were very lavish and spacious. This was about as nice as the Disney Key West resort I stayed in about 5 years ago in Florida. After Hickey waged a great war on a herculean cockroach residing in Amy and Jon's bathroom, finally claiming victory, we went upstairs to hang out in the living room. We played some Guitar Hero with Jon and Amy before finally crashing from fatigue at 12:15am. Hickey and I were sharing the room with 2 twin beds (cause that’s the way we like it) and quickly fell asleep after deciding to get up and run on the beach the next morning.

Meditation for the day: Isaiah 30:21 "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."