Florida or Bust-Page 2

We slept in until almost 7:30AM. This far outsuppasses our usual, "Hey, less go, Nana-I'm awake" usually around 5 :30AM. I guess we must have been a bit tired from all that riding.

SweetCheeks reminded me first thing, "Doan furghet todays da stop for da WahfalHousse & I gonna have pancakes". (Remember the pancakes bit because it is important later in the story). I assured her I would not forget. This was followed immediately by the question, "Are we in Floordhah yet, Nana?" Nope-not yet I told her. I told her she could watch movies all day in the car. "I doan wanna wasth moovies all day in da carh. I only wanna wasth DorahtheExplorarh". Great! Fine by me-let's pack this show up and get on the road.

MyHero seemed to have a bit more trouble with Little Miss Light&Sweetness today. She did not seem to have her listening ears turned all the way to high volume. Every time he asked her a question she would respond with, "Huh? Whassa dat you sayeng, Papa?" Now, leave it to a male adult to get right down to the 3 year old level. "Didn't you hear me before, SweetCheeks?" "Nooooooh-If I hurd you beforah I doan know whut you said!". Repeat the above sequence twice and at about 40 minute increments and you will have an idea of what the day was like.

Look-Look ahead- Do you see it? "I doan seen nuffen". Look again-It's a waffle house-Nana's favorite greasy spoon traveling stop. "I doan see noh WahfalHousse-dass a resturunt". Yep! the Waffle House IS a restaurant. NOOH-You sed it wuss a WahfalHousse. Quick, someone slap me~I never thought that the kid would think the restaurant was MADE OUT OF waffles! We use a quick manuever to distract her by telling her that we will walk across the street and she can have her picture taken on the train after we eat. This seems to work. She is a lot like her mother. She mysteriously appears and smiles every time someone pulls a camera out.

We find a booth-there are never tables at Waffle Houses-there are booths or stools at the counter. SweetCheeks is on her best behavior. The waiter comes to take our order. "Ah'll haf sum pancakes, pleeese." (at least she remembered to say please even if he hadn't asked for our order yet). "Oh, I'm sorry-we don't have any pancakes-this is the WAFFLE HOUSE-we have waffles", our poor unsuspecting waiter replies. "Whut did hims say? (looking at me-as MyHero quickly remembers he has to go to the bathroom right at this very moment) Whuddaya mean?

Nana-yoah sayed I culd haf sum pancahkes heah!" I can hear the tears threatening as her voice grows deeper with each word. "Oh no"-I whisper. Our waiter has that deer in the headlights look as he takes in the crestfallen little face. You can tell he probably has a 3 year old at home. "Well, hold on a minute"-He turns and looks over his shoulder at Elmer who is the grill boy. "Elmer, can you make a pancake?" Head shakes back and forth, 'Boss said NO pancakes". "Come on" (by now I have taken a liking to this guy and he is going to get a great tip). "Just whip some waffle batter on the grill while the manager is outside,...hurry up". Elmer is still looking a little doubtful until Our sweet miss looks at him and says, "But I wreally wanna pahncake, please." God bless Elmer-he whipped that batter into a circular shape and had it on a plate in front of her before we even ordered. SweetCheeks looks at it, frowns a bit and says, "Hey, dis dussn't loowk like a reguhlah pahncake!" Now I KNOW the waiter has a 3 year old. He says, "Nope~It's NOT a regular pancake-It's one made special JUST FOR YOU!". Aha! Sunshine has exploded around us-WE are SPECIAL!

We came, we sat, we ate, we left, we had our pictures taken on the train. When all was said and done we loaded ourselves into the car to continue our trip. "Well, SweetCheeks," I asked, "How did you like WaffleHouse?" "Ummmm...I think nexta time I juss gonna have da wahfal cuz I doan like der pahncakes bery much!" (Top photo taken at our 2nd Waffle House stop)~

Only 1000 miles to go!