GPS?? What GPS?

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What's with these earlier-than-necessary wakings?? This time I woke up at 1:30 for about an hour, and then woke for real at 5:45. The alarm on the phone (programming that was a pain!) was set for 6:00, but I decided to get going anyway. We showered and finished packing, and headed downstairs. Marnie had prepared "to go" breakfast packs for us, and enlisted her dad to drive us to the airport. He was fun to chat with. We highly recommend Woodpecker's Inn--lovely place, wonderful hostess, great location!
The SAA staff at the airport were helpful, and we got on our flight to Port Elizabeth right on time. I had some credit card drama trying to buy a book (Spud#3) but that seems to have been a glich on the airport cash register. Wonder how much the trans-atlantic call to Bank of America cost! We had a good flight and retrieved our bags quickly in the empty airport. The car rental process was easier and faster than the phone procedure last night, and because of a tiny time crunch, and some (misplaced??) bravado, we decided to skip the GPS unit. We headed off the airport grounds and on to Greenacres to meet Joycey.
We met her out side of Mugg&Bean, a cafe/coffee shop. She was not expecting Mom, and was very surprised and happy to see her. After some tears, we went inside for a very nice lunch and catch-up session. Afterwards, we went to the bank, and took Joycey shopping for some things she needed. What an inspiration, and a great dose of perspective she is!! We took a little trip down memory lane passed Mom's childhood home and dropped Joycey off for her bus. I got my copy of the newest Spud book (3rd in a series about a boy coming of age in a South African boarding school--funny stuff!) without any drama this time!
Next on the list was Aunty Denise (my god mother) and Aunty Kay (her mom). We joined them for tea, tears, milktart and chatting. At about 6:00-ish we headed "home" to Charon's house. Directions were a bit sketchy, but a helpful fellow in a petrol station helped me out, and with a few more mis-turns (GPS?? What GPS?) we arrived. Charon is a dear--on our beds were packages of peppermint crisp chocolate, droe wors and biltong, and a lovely hand-made card welcoming us to her home. We unpacked and chatted, and had a wonderful home-cooked supper. I've spent quite a while now on her laptop catching up my email and this blog. Hope you're enjoying it!
Bed time is soon--we are quite wiped, and tomorrow is another busy day!

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