The Big Day finally arrives.

Don went into the Rehab Center 6 weeks ago and he was beginning to think they would never let him out. But the day finally came.  I arrived at 8 am last Friday morning and found him packing up to leave.  Of course it took the facility another 5 hours to get all their paperwork together before I could 'spring him'.



There were some really tough days in this place but Don also had some wonderful staff who came by to say their farewells....

There was China who never stopped smiling--no matter how crabby the customers became in this very exclusive hotel.

And then there was Georgia who made physical therapy an enjoyable outing instead of work.  I noticed that Don managed to attract some of the loveliest and nicest ladies anywhere around.  And they all treated him like royalty.


   

I wonder if lovely Weaton is why he ended up hanging around for six weeks.  No, surely Don wasn't sandbagging. He wouldn't do that....

Ah, home at last.  "So, where is my masseuse?"

The very first Sunday Don wanted to go out to dinner.  This funky restaurant is called Stumpknockers and is one of Don's favorites.  Their specialty is catfish and hush puppies.

So we brought Kelly along.  She had never eaten hush puppies before (can you imagine?) and discovered that she loved them.  By the way, she is now Don's caregiver....and masseuse.

 

So, Don is doing great.  He is back in the social life at Lake Port Square and feeling his old self again.  We will be getting on an airplane on Wednesday morning and heading to Minnesota for six days to visit his sister and a whole raft of Larson cousins, nephews and nieces.  So I will be blogging from there sometime next week.
My plans for the future are to head back west right after Labor Day.  I will return through the south with stops in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and finally to Arizona by December.  I did not make it to Nova Scotia this year so it looks like I will have to do it later.  Which means I may have to extend this adventure another year or two...after the west coast, Alaska, the midwest, some of Canada, all of New England... Oh, the torture!