December 3

It was the first day off since we had left and our bodies were feeling it. We rolled into the tranquil town of Beverly Hills, FL around 2am, causing little disturbance to sleeping elderly in rows of single-story houses locked up and glowing with the calm light of humming television sets playing Matlock reruns. Adam’s Aunt and Uncle let us stay in a clean empty house they own, conveniently neighboring his sweet Grandmother; who requested that we drop our dirty laundry over the fence and insisted on washing it for us---having it clean and folded before our heads ever lifted from our pillows in the morning. We woke to the sizzling sound and smell of fried eggs, coupled with sausages, toast, coffee and cereal. It was the first time since I could remember being able to eat a well-balanced breakfast. Our agenda for the day was to eat, drink and rest and we did just that. We went over to Adam’s uncle’s house and played some serious garage ping-pong sessions while ogling over his shiny hog of a Harley motorcycle and sports car. We sipped on beers in his garage adorned in Nascar posters and tools hanging from the walls, and listened with smiling faces as he told us stories of his youth and the devilish things he had done for fun. “I sure went to a lot of bars and had a lot of drinks and came home with a lot of women. I never did come home with an ugly one though…but I certainly did wake up with a few.” ~Hilarious~ After a few hours over there they took us to a pizza buffet. $4.99 all you can eat turned from the best decision to the worst decision as we made passes back and forth from the buffet like worker ants. Dave tapped out at 20 slices of pizza, a remarkable accomplishment; beating anyone else by over twice the amount. We made it home and sprawled out all over the empty living room carpet, watching thriller movies and romantic comedies until we were all in hibernation. I love days off.