Panic Time and All Plans Changed

DeBary, FL.

43 deg. Clear, SW Wind @ 5 mph.

Forecast = Today: Sunny. Highs around 79°F. Southwest wind to 9 MPH.
Tonight: Clear. Lows around 52°F. West southwest wind 2 to 8 MPH.

All plans were changed yesterday. The origina plan was to go over to the house, do a couple loads of laundry, gather a few things that have been taken over there and bring them back here, go to ACE Hardware to buy a few things that they currently have on sale and continue re-organizing the storage areas of Bobbie T.

But, that didn't happen!!!!

Now, I'll bet you're wondering why?  Well, about 10:30, Linda asked Jim to hand her the phone so that she could call her sister, (Nancy), up in Illinois and wish her a Happy Birthday. Jim looked on the table, where thy usually put the phone at night, and it wasn't there!! Then he and Linda both started looking everywhere inside of Bobbie T that they could think of.

No Phone!!! : (

Now, what to do? All of the phone numbers of all their contacts were on that phone. Many of them not written down anywhere else. And, they only have that 1 phone, so there was no way to even call anyone!!!

Panic Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, time to sit back and try to figure out where the phone might be, and how to go about finding it. The day before, Jim knew he had it in the morning because when Roland and Louise were coming, they called for directions. But, after that, the phone wasn't used all day!!

Jim had an idea. He'd go over to Birdie's, (a lady who lives in a class C near us, who Jim had done a favor for awhile back), and ask her to call the phone while Linda stayed home and listened for it to ring,. (Maybe it had slid down behind a dinette seat, or something and Linda could find it.) Well, she called 3 times but Linda didn't answer so it was presumed that it wasn't inside of Bobbie T. : (

Then, he asked Birdie to call Roland's number (which he had looked up on the computer before he went over there), because he thought the phone just might have come off of his belt while he was in the back seat of his car when they were going over to see the house.

Well, Birdie called Roland for Jim, he went out to the car and looked, and sure enough, the phone was in the back seat of their car!!! : )

OK!!! Found the phone!!! The only problem was that Roland and Louise's house is about 90 mile away in Frostproof, FL. And, it's on the other side of Orlando, which is notoriously very busy, especially on a Friday!! Jim and Linda really did need the phone though, so there really was only one option, and that was to go to Frostproof to retrieve it. : (

So, about noon they left, filled CLT up with 87 octane and headed West on I-4, (through Orlando which was already starting to have serious traffic back-ups), and South on US 27 to Frostproof. It took them about 2 hours to get down there.

Once at Roland and Louise's, they picked up their phone, and then Roland and Louise fixed them a great lunch consisting of steak and a salad!!! And, both Jim and Linda said the steak was excellent!!  What a treat!!!!

OK, I know that this is getting pretty long, and I'm probably boring many of you to death, but we're getting to the end. ; )

After eating, Jim and Linda hopped back into CLT and headed back this way. Being that I-4 was now backed up for miles and miles, Jim decided to take US 27 all the way up to Leesburg, and then take routes 441 and 46 back here to DeBary. It was further but they didn't have to sit in traffic back-ups.

Anyway, by the time they got back here, it was close to 7:00 PM!! Jim was very tired, so he laid down on the bed and just crashed for about an hour while Linda dozed in her chair.

Not at all what they had planned for the day, but both said that it was nice to see Roland and Louise again so soon. And, they had to drive a long way to have a great lunch, but both said that it was worth it!!!! ; )

Thanks so much, Birdie, and Roland and Louise!!! You're great friends!!! And, because of all of you, the day ended as well as possible. : )

Did you know that the first e-mail was sent in 1972?

Oh, and Linda did get to call her sister and wish her a Happy Birthday!!!! ; )