Well, to start with...
Less than a week before the trip, we basically lost two of our best friends. Or rather I should clarify, we realized, finally, after months (they live in Tampa; we live in St. Pete, which is very very close indeed; we last saw them in
August; they still have not seen our house) or more (looking back at snarky comments they made which were glossed over, sometimes apologized for, but in the end were kind of
consistent), they'd genuinely drifted away and cut us loose. This perhaps deserves its own thread in Chit Chat where we can natter on about it, and tragically they were (well, one of them was) instrumental into getting
me as much into Disney (and anime, and Japanese stuff) as I am. Known him for almost 20 years...
that got us down. It was quietly operative, like the low hum of a vacuum cleaner in another room, in the back of our minds, I am sure, throughout the trip.
We also just weren't feeling well. A lot of tiredness. And tummy woes. It really doesn't help when you can't lie down to sleep at night. We woke up several days of this trip
ludicrously late but on the other hand it felt so
good, at 5 or 6 am, to be able to lie down and sleep...
And the blazing, blazing sun which we just weren't quite prepared for may not have helped.
However, this is all background. On with the TR...
By the way, the TR title comes from
a children's book I think I haven't actually read (thus far) but seems fairly popular.