Alas, as I mentioned, we made our big trek up north for the holidays.  It is always a LOOOONNNNNGGGG day with 2 humans, 2 dogs, and 2 cats in 1 car.  But, we sing, and eat, and drive and drive, and drive, and laugh, and get grumpy, and drive, and eat, and sing, and drive, and drive, until we make our way.

I always hate to leave Charleston.  There are statues of magical little nymphs down there.  Pretty much everywhere.  Who could want any more?  (See photo below)

But yesterday, we left the little gem of Charleston.  There were a couple of times during the drive that I attmpted to be puny about something here or there.  And just about the time that I’d try to wear my Curmudgeon Hat, someone would be surprisingly nice and show their human beauty-ness.  The cashier at Big Lumpy’s Quick Stop in Somewhere, South Carolina, who, at 5:50 a.m. turned on the gas pumps early for us, so that we could fill up and continue on our way.

Or how about the Gertie the Counter Lady at Wendy’s in in dismal and dreary West Virginia?  Books are not to be judged by their covers.  I didn’t so much feel like conversing at Big Daves…. but Gert did…. and she was the nicest lady in the world.  You see, here’s a little known fact about me:  I always get triple-pickles on my single, cheese with everything’s at Wendy’s.  So I gave my order to Gertie, and she was so darn cute.  She fessed up that she likes to drink pickle juice (and sometimes even olive juice) right out of the jars at home. Loves it.  Can’t get enough of the stuff.   Her husband caught her red-handed, so now she said she’s eating the pickles too, so that he can’t tell when she’s been nipping the juice.  She then proceeded to bring out 2 extra containers of pickles to our table, so that we’d be sure to have enough.  Thanks Gertie the nicest pickle-juice-drinking lady I’ve ever met.