Last night Alex and I shared Cole’s bed which was SUPER comfortable. We weren’t sure at first if it would fit us both, but it did, comfortably. Went to bed on the later side but we’re on indefinite fun-employment vacation so whatever. Got about 6 hours or so of sleep and we were up at 8. Well, I was up at 8. Showered, changed, and got ready to go…while Alex slept. Alex woke up Garrett with “The Duck Song” as he used to do when his boys were campers, said our goodbyes to Ave and Elise and left at 9:30 am.

   When deciding where to eat breakfast, G-man casually stated “I’m more of an IHOP guy,” so that was an easy breakfast decision. White chocolate raspberry pancakes, “scrambled” eggs (they were served over easy), bacon, and hash browns, served with “vanilla iced coffee” which tasted more like flavored milk and Georgia’s finest tap water. We ordered and finished at the perfect time, just beating the Saturday morning family breakfast rush.

   At 10:30 am we met up with Sam Weiller in a Trader Joe’s parking lot in Atlanta, right next to an entrance to the Belt Line. The Belt Line is a long stretch of walkable goodness that is Atlanta’s “most comprehensive revitalization effort.” We walked this for about 15-20 minutes where we eventually met up with Leslie “Resrie” Wright, the apple of my eye, the love of my life. We continued down the beltline chatting like clucking hens, ultimately departing from the path to head to the Dancing Goat Coffee Shop. This place was way too hip for me, but I got a small iced coffee to blend in with the crowd. By the way, Sam’s golden retriever puppy service dog, Guardian, ended up meeting and interacting with the cutest 2-year-old girl in the state. It was precious.

   Leslie dipped and Alex and I needed to hit the road to start the long drive to Miami, so we said our goodbye to that sad excuse for a starving artist and made our way back to where we parked via the Beltline VIA WHAT IS AFFECTIONALY KNOWN AS THE “MURDER KROGER” FOR ITS NOTORIETY AS A KROGER WHERE THERE WAS A MURDER via the Beltline again. I used the ladies room at the local Trader Joe’s after saying bye to Shmoo and G-love, and we left Atlanta around 1 pm.

   After 2 ½ hours of traffic-free driving, Confederate flags, ads for Jesus and Sirius radio, we got hungry. Alex looked up a BBQ place on the way, so we stopped off in Perry, Georgia for Grill Masters BBQ. We both ordered the Larry Walker (pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw) but I got a side of BBQ beans and Alex got potato salad. WOW was that good!! The best way to describe it was smooth. With the sweet homemade BBQ sauce the sandwich was just a delight, a real good taste of southern BBQ. Well, time to drive again. I drove for another hour and a half until nearly the end of Georgia and then we switched.

   Around 8 pm we needed gas because the tank was looking real empty. We chose to pass the service station conveniently off the path of the turnpike in order to get a better deal on gas. It put us about half an hour behind schedule, and about 20 minutes outside of Orlando or any semblance of functional human civilization, but we saved a bunch of money, filled up, got snacks, and made our way back to the turnpike for the final leg of the journey.

   During this time we had 2 different skies. Behind us, a beautiful sunset with the sun peaking its head out of the clouds like a golden bear about to slumber for the night on a fluffy pillow; in front of us, a dark grey cloud system with lightning like a dark grey cloud system with lightning. We knew a hurricane was coming, but we didn’t know when. I’m not sure if we drove through a hurricane – pretty sure we didn’t – but we did drive through some VERY heavy rain. During this time we went back and forth on what we listening to: This American Life, Comedy Bang Bang, Kidz Bop Sirius XM channel, BPM, and more. Regardless, we made awesome time and arrived in Miami around 11:30 pm.

   What better way to celebrate a son’s return to his homeland and a son’s lookalike’s first time to Miami than with a massive sushi boat with the Lelchuks at Sushi House Asian Fusion Restaurant! Damn this sushi was good! I peaked at what they ordered, but I knew it didn’t matter because I was going to eat as much as humanly possible no matter it was. Not only that, somebody had rented out the other half of the restaurant for a Latin dance party, which made it feel very Miami. A very thin see-through cloth separated the sushi restaurant and dance floor as to allow each section’s guests to enjoy their respective activities. Moral of the story – couldn’t hear a word of what was said, ate way more than I should have, grooved big time to blaring salsa music, and got pumped to be in Miami for a week.

   We arrived back at Alex’s house around 1 am. Lel gave me the tour of his neighborhood to show off some of the stunning Miami mansions and incredible yachts in the marine. Finally got to Alex’s house, threw my stuff down in Andrew’s room, got a mini tour (“it’s all here on this level, just look around” said Alex – what a pal!), and relaxed some more before bed. Another late night, but tomorrow we get to sleep in before meeting up with Lauren Kasten for lunch in Fort Lauderdale. I’m so excited for the week ahead to explore Miami and other parts of Florida, as well as relax at Alex’s before we head to Kansas City, KS for the weekend and then start the real big trips.

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