January 4, 2004 - Mike Cloppert wasn't very pleased when I woke up before noon. The room I was sleeping in had open blinds which let the sun shine brightly on me to wake me up. I turned on the TV and watched his Family Guy DVD for a while until Mike got up. I convinced him to play disc golf in Maryland. The weather was calling for rain but when we got outside it was very warm and didn't look like it was going rain, although it had clearly drizzled during the night. We drove in Mike's S2000 to a course over by the University of Maryland. Right off the bat I started with a deuce which was great. This course was flat and boring. Mandatories were scattered throughout the course to make it more interesting, but overall it was not exciting. The most exciting element of today was being able to walk around with short sleeves on and play disc golf in January! I finished the course with a 3 over (57), which seemed respectable. Mike finished 7 over. When we returned to Cloppert's apartment I got back on the road and headed to Athen's, OH, to visit Jake Mecklenborg. The hills through Maryland and West Virginia would have been enough of a drain on their own, but the combined rain and fog I drove through made it a very stressful drive. About 5 and a half hours after leaving Mike's place I arrived on State Street in Athens, where I met up with Jake. We ate dinner and then I got back on the road forthe final 2 hour 45 minute drive to Cincinnati. I was impressed that the house was clean, but disappointed that Tom hadn't taken down the Christmas tree, and also aggravated that Josh left my phone off the base so long that it had no charge left in it. My car was still alive after Josh used it, so that was a plus. I never know what to expect from him. I unloaded the stuff from my car and then checked the messages on my answering machine. Janet called twice, and John called about an hour ago telling me that he was up at Cody's Cafe. I drove up to Cody's since John will only be in town this one last night. He told me to bring my sax to join him on the stage but I just went up and listened to him and Nick play for the open mic. They played all the tunes I was used to hearing from John. I got to see Mark, Matt Cornell, Nikki Luse, and Jeff while I was at Cody's. I returned home just before midnight. This concludes my hectic but incredibly fun end of 2003-beginning of 2004 vacation. To recap, I traveled through 13 states in 10 days, and met up with a lot of friends and relatives. I saw Kentucky,Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio. I saw all my Florida relatives, as well as Mike Cloppert, Jake, John, and others. It was a great trip!