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Day 13

I woke up this morning and piled everything in the Ryder truck. Then Misty and I hit the road. We drove through Lousianna and Alabama, and around 5:00 or so we hit Florida. I made it to Pensacola and headed towards Tallahassee. Northern Florida is a very pretty area, at least, the section I drove through was.

I figured I'd stop for the night in Tallahssee, but before I reached it, I hit I75, the highway I needed to reach Tampa. The sign said Tampa was only about 150 miles or so, just about 3 hours away. If I pushed on, I could make it to Tampa before midnight. So that's what I did. About an hour and a half outside Tampa, I started calling my Florida friends. I was hoping I could reach someone who could guide me into the city and maybe give me somewhere to crash for the night. Unfortunately, it was late on a Saturday night and everyone was out. Finally, I called Tim, who had given me a cell phone number. He agreed to meet me in Tampa and we could go out for a drink or something, then he'd help me find a hotel for the night. I knew my friend Chris would let me stay with him, since he not only offered to let me stay there for a while, but he even offered to be my roomate, to share housing costs. The only problem was that he wasn't home. But I had his address, so I figured maybe Tim could help me find his house, then I could just wait for Chris to come home.

I got into Tampa and somehow ended up a few blocks from Busch Gardens. I knew my old friend from California was at Busch Gardens tonight, so I kept my eyes open for him just in case, although I knew the chances of actually running into him on the streets of Tampa were pretty slim. I stopped at a Burger King around midnight on an intersection with which Tim was familiar and Misty and I got out to wait.

Tim showed up and we discussed where to go for some coffee. He sort of knew the area, so I put Misty back in the truck and Tim and I drove off to look for an all-night diner or coffee shop. We chatted and I was having a pretty good time. We ended back on Busch Blvd. and we found an IHOP that was open all night. We pulled into the parking lot, which was full. Tim started to circle the lot and I looked around. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw someone familiar. I told Tim to find a parking spot and that I'd be right back, that I think I saw someone I knew.

I hopped out of the car and yelled "Paul!" He didn't turn around. I took a few more steps and yelled "Denayer!" He turned his head and looked around. I waved and caught his eye. He froze, then shook his head. With a stunned expression, he asked "What are you doing here?" Then he gave me a big hug. I explained that I had just got into town and I got a hold of a friend and we were looking for a place to grab a drink. He explained that he and his friends were at the park and they left their car in the IHOP parking lot. The car got towed and they were trying to figure out what to do from there. I offered to drive them to get the car or wherever they needed to go.

I went back to Tim's car and told him what was happening. He was sweet enough to drive us himself, even though he could have just dropped me back at my truck and I could have driven everyone around town. We got Denayer's friend's car back and Tim dropped me back at my truck. It was pretty late by this time, so Tim and I parted.

I drove around trying to find my way back to the university, where Denayer lives on campus. We had been there earlier to get Denayer's car so we could fit everyone on the way to the impound yard. I got a little lost and called Tim on my cell phone. Eventually, I found my way. As promised, Denayer and his friends were hanging out in the parking lot, talking. We all hung out for a while. It felt like old times, sitting in a parking lot, late at night, Denayer smoking his cigarettes, talking and laughing. Denayer and I told some old stories, just sort of catching up. He kept reaching over to hug me or tousel my hair. I think he was still pretty stunned to see me there. He wasn't expecting me until the next day or even the day after.

Eventually, we walked to the dorm room of the girl whose car was towed. We hung out there for a while, then around 4:30 AM or so, Denayer and I headed back to his place. He graciously let me crash in his room for the night. I got settled at his place and we both crowded into his little twin bed about 5 feet in the air, The dorms have the beds up on high bunks so that a desk area could be put underneath, making as much use of the small space allowed to the students. Since the floor was simply carpeting over concrete, with my bad back, I couldn't have handled the floor and I couldn't possibly ask Denayer to give up his bed, so we squeezed in his together. After everyone sqeezing onto my air mattress at Star Wars, we were pretty used to it anyway. Denayer has a roomate who was just waking up as we got in. Hopefully we didn't disturb him too much. He left pretty soon after we settled in to sleep anyway.

God, it was so good to see him again. I really missed him, and it was just starting to sink in that I was actually in Florida, so I would get a little misty-eyed at times. It's very nice to have an old friend here, so that I don't miss home too much, I know I'm not totally alone.

Day 12 - - Table of Contents - - Day 14

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