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.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Christmas music, some it’s OK, and there are a few songs I really like, but I usually have to be careful to avoid it until the few weeks right around Christmas or I risk getting burned out. I’m borrowing (was inspired by) something from a blog I read pretty regularly called Planet Dan. In fact he just came out with his 2010 christmas playlist.

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.

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.

After sleeping in, I set out to find a place with WiFi. I eventually settled on a Starbucks and spent a few hours getting work done. Then it was time for the beach. On the map this place called Tybee Island. It was a great beach. I can not think of a nicer beach I’ve been to (that’s not saying much mind you). The weather was perfect, about 78 F and sunny.

So, for starters, here’s the updated plan that takes into account the delayed shuttle launch and the rest of the trip. Day 5 - Spend a little extra with the Selin’s and Eliot, then drive to Savanna. Day 6 - Explore Savannah then drive to Orlando. Day 7 - Hang out in Orlando… maybe do some exploring. Day 8 - Shuttle Launch, hopefully for reals this time, then drive to Tallahassee.