Today is Wednesday and almost the last day of our vacation. We have had a wonderful time. Donald and Vita’s guest house is more like a playhouse. The houses in the community are all named, and this one is named ‘Happy Days’. ‘Turnbo South’ would not do it justice. It has every commodity you could wish for. The only thing we haven’t found is the junk drawer. Donald, you’ve gotten above your raising. Rose, Shirley and I arrived last Wednesday and the week has flown by. We would have had no trouble finding the place if we had listened to the GPS, but we made a few wrong turns.

Shirley’s niece Yvonne, and Yvonne’s daughter, Savannah, drove Loretta over from Louisiana and they arrived later that first evening. They didn’t listen to the GPS either and drove around the area for quite some time until Rose drove out of the subdivision and flagged them down. Savannah is almost two and lots of fun to have around. She and Yvonne are coming back today to get Loretta. We’ve only eaten dinner out once because we hated to leave. A rush trip to the grocery store is the extent of our outings. We just enjoy the ocean which is a beautiful aqua color, the sandy beach, the solitude, and the sunshine. It has rained some, but we just played cards and ate while it was raining. Vita, we’re glad there are no scales. This is some of our usual entertainments when we take our pre-Spring vacation.

There are several swimming pools here, a tennis court, a playground, restaurant, coffee shop, gift shop, chapel, and I’m sure lots of things I’ve missed. I’ve been walking almost every day and have made it to almost three miles a couple of times according to the pedometer. I’ve had to be careful not to get lost but managed to find my way back without using the cellphone to call for directions. All the other houses are cleverly named too and I’m trying to think of a clever name for the lake house. Any suggestions?

Rose and I had to leave the premises yesterday, and did so reluctantly, but had to find a Walgreens to have a prescription filled. We were driving a rental car with less than 1,000 miles on it. The nearest Walgreens was 12 miles away, and this time we did every thing the GPS told us to do. We pulled into a parking spot and a young man started opening my door. I thought it was just southern hospitality and that he was being cordial. Soon I heard him yelling “Get out. Your car is on fire!” I got out as fast as I could (which isn’t very fast) and Rose hopped out, too. The fire was underneath and everyone stood back until it seemed to have gone out. Needless to say, we were afraid to drive it. Rose got on the phone immediately and tried to contact the emergency roadside service assistance number at Avis. She did get a person who asked if it was drivable and she had to be extremely explicit about the fire. After about being transferred around about ten times and then getting cut off, she finally got a person who would take the information and promised to send a tow truck with a different rental car for us. It was going to take a while for the tow truck to get there so we ask a man a Walgreens if there were a seafood restaurant in walking distance. He told us about ‘Dirty Dick’s’, which was near. We had time to kill and didn’t want hamburgers, so decided we’d try it. There was a roll of paper towels on the table and the silverware was wrapped in a paper towe,l but the menu was a bit pricey. Pete, we needed your credit card. We had the best crab cakes we’ve ever had in our lives. They came with Hush Puppies which were superb and red beans and rice which Rose liked but I didn’t. The service was excellent. Donald had advised us to tip more than two and a half per cent or they would think we were Canadians, so we left a good tip. We told the bus boy how much we liked the crab cakes, and he said the grouper cakes were even better. We had never heard of them. We’re going out to eat tonight and are going to check the menu.

When we got back to Walgreens, there was still no tow truck with our car. Avis called on Rose’s cell phone to say the driver had gotten stopped by the police. When he finally arrived he explained that the police asked him to remove an accident from the highway. The car he brought us wasn’t nearly as nice as the one that caught, on fire but we hope it’s more trustworthy. Moral to this part of the entry: EAT AT DIRTY DICK’S AND DON’T RENT FROM AVIS