So, on Friday the 25th of last month I rode with Jeff, Brandon and Joy M. to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the graduation party of my freind Sephen S., the same one I talked to about martial arts for an hour and a half in Puerto Rico.

I came back that same night, but left with my mother and younger sister the next morning for Houston, Texas. Some of you may recall the post from the LaQuinta. That was on the 27th, but it was so early in the morning that to me it was still Saturday the 26th.

The next morning, my mom and I went shopping for shoes. At the time, my shoes were about to die, and I needed new ones to take to Puerto Rico. I had a specific style in mind. Of all things to be really picky about, I am really picky about shoes. I like the design to be clean and simple with a touch of class to them. I eventually settled on the Adidas Samba series. I really wanted the Samba Millenium, but being unable to find it, I happily settled for the Samba Classic. I like it so much that I added to my wishlist a pair of the exact same shoe in white with black stripes.

Shockingly, I could not find this shoe in Houston. I found it back in Louisiana. We left Houston Sunday afternoon for Baton Rouge, again. We spent the night at the home of Paul C. We left there at about 11 the next morning and went to an outlet mall nearby. It was here that we finally found my shoes. We also found the Adidas SS 2G Slide, which I fell in love with instantly. We acquired these, and headed home.

During the drive home (about three hours long) we were in contact with some freinds in Memphis, Tennessee that were going to drive to Athens, Georgia the next day. James and John S. were going to be flying with me out of Atlanta, Georgia with my group of friends in Athens, but I needed to find a way to get there. Originally, my plan was to ride the train to Atlanta and stay a night with friends there. This plan had some problems, but I could ride the train to Memphis that day and ride to Athens with James and John the next. The only problem with this plan was that I was not packed at all for Puerto Rico, and I had no consideration at all for the possibility of staying gone an extra week.

Despite all odds, I was able to finish packing in two and a half hours, shower and be on the train by 5:45. I made it to Memphis at around 10 and then made it into Athens the next day at about 7.

I spent a day in Athens, mostly just watching the others pack and practicing Mario Kart. That was Tuesday the 29th.

Wedensday morning at 3 a.m. our whole crew got up and drove to Atlanta to meet the rest of our group. We all piled into a white 15-seater van with all our luggage and drove to the airport. We flew out just after 6 a.m. After a 20-minute layover in Philidelphia (and by layover I mean mad gate-to-gate dash) we flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We were picked up, along with a group arriving at the same time by a group of three white 15-seater vans, which we piled into in identical formation to when we were riding to the ariport in Atlanta. We were driven to our assigned hospitality where we had dinner and slept. The next day we toured Old San Juan and relocated to the conference center in Toa Alto for the conference we were attending. That lasted two days, meaning I spent two nights there. This was the first time I spent two consecutive nights in the same place, not counting the time I spent in Athens, which involved one night of sleep and one night of pretending to want sleep that only lasted about two hours anyway.

The rest of the story is as you have read in previous posts.