All My Bags Are Packed, I’m Ready To Go

This is it.  I’m leaving out tomorrow, and the day promises to be crammed full.  We’re driving to Louisville, where Keisha will walk across the stage in cap & gown, proclaiming herself graduated.  Immediately afterwards we’re driving 17-18 hours straight, headed southbound until we hit Miami.  Then, with a handful of hours to spare, we’ll go through the port security stuff and board our ship, setting sail for the Eastern Caribbean at 4:00pm on Sunday.  Here’s the schedule, with our excursions or tours listed afterwards.

Boat: Carnival Glory
Sunday: Port of Miami, set sail at 4:00pm 
Monday: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; glass bottom boat excursion tour
Tuesday: Fun Day at Sea
Wednesday: St. Thomas, USVI; shopping and Magen’s Bay Beach
Thursday: San Juan, Puerto Rico; historic walking tour
Friday: Grand Turk; exclusive steakhouse reservation on boat
Saturday: Fun Day at Sea
Sunday: Miami, FL; drive back to Kentucky

It’s going to be a wonderful, fun-filled trip, and I’m sure I’ll never forget it.  It’ll be Keisha’s first time seeing the Ocean, and only my third or fourth.  Neither of us have ever seen the crystal clear waters, and that’s one of the major things I’m looking forward to.  I’m also immensely looking forward to being off and away from work, having a week to spend with Keisha.  We’ve not had a vacation in a while, so we’re ready.

It’s mind-blowing that in just a few days I’ll be farther away from home than I’ve ever been before, in an island paradise.  The excitement’s been mounting for any months, and now that it’s here, I’m ecstatic.  There’ll be plenty of pictures and videos when I get back.  And I plan on bringing a journal to help with remembering certain things that I’ll mention here.

The drive to Miami, from Louisville, is 1137.9 miles, which should take 16.63 hours to drive going 68 mph.  We should be leaving Louisville no later than 6pm.  That puts us in Miami around 11:30-12:00 on Sunday morning.  As I mentioned yesterday, we’ll have The Hunger Games and Catching Fire on audio to listen to, but I’m also burning the Stuff Christians Like cd to listen to, too, so Keisha can hear it.  I’ll be starting on The Wheel of Time next week, bringing the paperback with me on board.

I’ve got some things lined up next week to automatically post, that way I’m meeting my personal quota and any of you that need a Rememorandom fix can have it.  Wish us luck.  Pray for our safety and that we’ll get there on time.

(Oh.  That’s the first stop we’ll be making.  Hello Half Moon Cay.)

One thing I forgot to mention.  Last night I threw a surprise party for Keisha’s graduation.  She really had no idea.  I’ve had it planned for a few weeks now.  Since graduating from college is a big deal and we’ve been so focused on the cruise, I thought I should surprise her to let her know how happy we all were.  There were 17 people total.  Keisha and her mom went to a Ladies Tea at the church last night, and while they were out, I had everybody come over.  We parked the cars all away from the house.  I bought some pizzas and an ice cream cake from DQ and some decorations.  I was really pretty pleased with my foresight and decor.  Anyway, she walked in around 8ish and everyone yelled surprise and she was certainly surprised.  Put a smile on my face fo’ sho.

Take care everyone.