October 20, 2001
I didn?t sleep so great last night, Rich. I went to bed around 2 in the morning and was up at 7:30. We are going out east to one of those pumpkin/apple picking farms. There?s also hayrides and a corn maze so I am hoping this will be fun. We were going to take Ashley but what a PITA her grandmother is turning out to be. We?re leaving around 12:30 and when I invited Ashley along her grandmother didn?t say anything about having plans. Now all of a sudden they have to go out east somewhere and Ashley has to be home at 5:30?well I don?t want to be putting Cheryl and Robin under that kind of stress so we?re just not going to take her this time.

Well, it was a real laugh ? I could have taken Ashley after all. Went over to Cheryl?s around 12:30 and we got under way about 20 minutes later. The place Cheryl wanted to go to was about 60 miles away, yeesh!!! I would have preferred to go to White Post Farms but okay, I was willing to go along with everyone else. Cheryl, her daughter, another kid, and Robin and Dan got into the car with Cheryl with me and the kids following in the van. We were on the LIE less than 5 minutes when Cheryl pulled ahead and lost us. Along about the exit to White Post, I was tempted to get off but I stuck it out and we were almost in Riverhead (been driving an hour) when Billy asked just where this farm was. He was getting antsy. Luckily the LIE ended in Riverhead, but the traffic was even worse! We crept along for almost another hour and then we all decided to hell with the place Cheryl was going to. Cheryl and Robin probably wouldn?t wait for us anyway, etc., so we pulled off and went to a farm stand that had a corn maze and a haunted walk through. We bought pumpkins and apples and corn on the cob. The kids said they had a good time?I hope so.

You know what? I felt sort of abandoned by Cheryl. I can understand us not staying right close to each other but you?d think she?d not pull so far ahead I?d lose her entirely. There was no way to be able to let her know we were going to give up and try another place. Ah, the hell with it.