A very long day, home safely

Dear Family and Friends,
After about 5 hours or more of driving I'm back home again. I walked this morning, then showered, had oatmeal and grabbed the brief case and drove off. The GPS is always a bit long on its time estimations but the miles were about right, 166 miles to Oakhurst and the home I was to see. I loaded a new book on tape from CostCo and enjoyed the trip down. The fuel gauge hardly moved as I drove and even now after coming home with 385 miles it is just below the half mark. That will help as it only holds 13 gallons.
The homeowner was a delightful lady with an interesting story. Her first husband was a test pilot for Lockheed and was killed in a plane crash. She was a flight attendant for TWA and flew a lot with her husband too. One day she had a severe cold and in the process of ascending her ear drum ruptured leaving her with little hearing. So she told me when I arrived that she would be reading my lips and she did perfectly. The home was perfect, out in the country on 1/2 an acre and I enjoyed measuring and inspecting it. She told me of a good place to eat so I stopped there next. They had a great vegetarian sandwich on some strange wholesome bread, it was great. Then the next stop was at the Board of Realtors where I was allowed to use the boardroom and check out the sales in a book they provided. I've not done that for years. Then I loaded the addresses for 7 properties in the GPS and set out to locate them. All were on country roads and were every direction but after a couple hours I had them all except one and I never could find that property. As I completed the photographing of comparable sales it started to rain, that was downright fun to breath in the fresh air filled with the fragrance of rain. But as I started to descend to Madera the rain stopped and the hot air of the valley forced the AC to come back on for the rest of the trip. I was so happy to pull into my own driveway this evening, thankful for a safe trip, for the car holding together for one for day and for the chance to work.
New orders were waiting including a rush relo order which I have set for tomorrow afternoon at 4 pm. Its local which will be nice.
My job has its perks, as I rounded a corner today two deer were in the road. They were in no hurry to move along and I studied them up close, beautiful animals. So in one day I get to listen to a good book, meet someone with an interesting history, spend time in the mountains, see nature, have a nice lunch and have business and family phone calls through the bluetooth stuck in my ear. Not a bad day at all.
So I wish you all a good night!

love

tim