I survived the Flood of 2008

[sarahmichigan]

Greetings and salutations from the Great White North. For those of you reading J.'s journal, I survived the flooding out of the road that leads to my Mom's place out in the country. The one bridge over the Rapid River is flooded out, but there are two other places where the water is knee-deep, and you can see currents running through it.

I've been trying to get Mom's computer to run faster, but it is buggy as hell. I'm about 95 percent sure it's chock full of ad-ware and spy-ware.

Low points of the trip to date:
-Failing to properly navigate the round-about system at the Brighton exit off I-23 north. I manage the roundabout in Ann Arbor for Maple/Miller just fine, but the Brighton one was scary. It didn't help that it was rush hour.
-Encountering bad traffic at two other exits I attempted.
-Being harassed by seagulls at a road side park.
-Rain through most of the Upper Peninsula.
-Getting near my MOm's house near midnight, and being so tired, and it being so dark and rainy that I missed the landmark I use to find her dirt road that I went about 10 miles out of my way before I turned around and came back.
-Getting to the entrance to Mom's drive (0.6 miles from the main road to her house) and finding her there waiting for me because the road was flooded out.

Positives:
-I got great gas mileage for most of the trip.
-Being amused at finding a tank full of dip-your-own minnows near the restrooms at the first gas station I stopped at in the U.P.
-Mom's Jeep successfully got us through the flooded areas. I parked the Vibe at the end of the drive where it was dry.
-Walking in the rain around Mom's property today with her and her dog.
-Having toast made from homemade bread I made for breakfast, followed by Mom's homemade cream of broccoli soup and her homemade Italian bread (with a really interesting seasoned cream cheese spread) for lunch.
-Showing Mom how to cut and paste, send an attachment, and forward an email.
-Figuring out how and showing MOm how to load the color cartridge in her printer.
-My oldest brother should be arriving late tonight, and I hear there may be Pad Thai tomorrow night...