I was able to sleep a little bit more on Saturday morning, but I was still out of bed by 7. The three of us went down to Starbucks again to get on the Internet. Starbucks was closed. It did not open until 8am. I assumed Starbucks would have some international rule about opening early. I guess not. So we hung out in a small park until it opened.

We walked over to Buckingham Palace, and took some pictures in front of the palace. Then we walked down to a double decker bus tour. It works where you buy a ticket for a day and you can get on and off as much as you like. Heather and I had already seen a few of the things on the tour so we rode the bus all the way to Regent’s Park. It was very nice. There were a lot of flowers blooming. They had all these named plots that looked like they had rose bushes in them that were named like race horses. It was too early for the roses, but I’ll bet it is amazing with they are in bloom.

I was looking forward to a long nights sleep, which I needed. Good’ol jet lag kicked in and I was up at 5:00am. Which would have been about 11pm at home, so I have no idea what went on there. I was hoping to get caught up later that night.

I went down to a coffee shop at 6am, got on the Internet and finished up some work I had left over from the day before. Then breakfast at the hotel. Then we headed out walking.

After work I went home, threw the rest of my stuff together, I missed my bus downtown (or it just never came, who knows). Fortunately, I have a roommate who was happy to take me downtown (thanks Ben). Then I took the light rail to the international airport. I met Heather there. We said “goodbye” to our bags and headed through security. I can’t remember the last time there was no line at security. I guess I need to fly more on weeknights.

Time for another trip. This time Carol is staying home. I’m going to Europe with a couple of my friends (I’ll introduce them later).

Here’s the plan. I’m getting on a plane tomorrow night (technically later today) and flying to London England. I’ll spend a couple of days in the city, then we’re taking a train up to Mildenhall England to visit my brother and sister-in-law. We’ll spend a couple of days up there. Then a train, over night ferry and another train to Amsterdam Netherlands. We’ll spend a few days there. Then one more train to Paris France. We’ll spend a few days there. Then fly home. I’ll be gone for about 12 days.

I got a call from the impound lot of Sunday afternoon. I did not get it because I was at the Vikings game (great game). They found Carol. No word on her condition though.

Monday morning I planned on picking her up. Before I could call to confirm things with the impound lot a got a call from the officer in charge of my case. He explained that they had arrested the person they found driving the car (there were two people in the car when they found it, they may have arrested both of them).

The final day only entailed about an hour or so on the road, at least, that was about when I think I got home, I was pretty tired.

I was just going to take one load of luggage inside, then go straight bed and take care of the rest in the morning. I found a little energy left once I got inside though so I went ahead and unloaded Carol. Then slept, slept for a long time.

I ended up visiting with Isaac most of the morning. I do not talk with him enough and we had a some catching up to do. Typically Isaac gets Friday off so it being a Thursday night he didn’t mind staying up late. We actually ended up staying up so late talking I got to see Allison (Isaac’s wife), as she was getting up to go to work. Then I decided it was time for me to go to bed.

The sleeping in the car thing actually worked out pretty well, I got a good night sleep and woke up early and a ready to roll. The good nights sleep was at least partially due to the quilt my Mom gave me for my birthday when I was in North Carolina (thanks Mom).

Got back on the road and almost immediately left the freeway and headed north into Alabama. The goal, was of course the town of Jachin Alabama.

I finished the Omnivores Dilemma today. I had already started on my second book a couple of days ago, Unseen Academicals.

I started off the day by sleeping in. I got a lot of sleep, which may come in handy on my return trip. I left Orlando and started making my way north and west driving down the Florida pan handle.

I took care of this trips “optional objectives” by stopping at a fireworks store. Maybe the biggest fireworks store I’ve ever been in. I have a childhood memory about a bigger fireworks store, but things always seem bigger when I was younger. So anyway, I’ve got some sweet fireworks.

So the big news on day 7 came in the afternoon. The shuttle had been delayed, yet again, this time due to an electrical issue.

LAUNCH UPDATE: The launch of space shuttle Discovery STS-133 has been delayed an additional 24 hours and is now targeted for Thursday, November 4 at 3:29 p.m. ET. The delay gives engineers more time to evaluate data gathered after irregular electrical readings were received while powering up the shuttle main engines Tuesday morning. Existing STS-133 launch tickets and vehicle placards remain valid for the launch attempt on Thursday, November 4. Please continue to check the website for further launch updates and arrival time information.

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