Road trip pre-diary October 2009

Well, it's taken a few tries, but I've managed to secure the car for the trip. I started by using the various travel websites, and actually found what I thought was going to be a deal and reserved it. The only issue I had was that the pickup location was in Downtown Atlanta - and when I went to change it, I found that the car would be even cheaper out at the airport.
So, I cancelled the original and set it up for an airport pickup, which would have been easier because I could and would have taken the train to the airport instead of driving.
Well, because I don't use credit cards, I only use what's known (or was known) as a "debit card", I had to call the car company to find out what rules were in place for using it instead of a credit card. There wasn't an issue there, however the person at the car company and I got to talking, and I mentioned that I had set my reservation to pick the car up at the airport - when she asked me what time my flight got in, I said I wasn't flying in, I was picking the car up to do a road trip - at which point she said that to rent out of the airport and get the rate I was seeing, I was going to have to show my round trip ticket at the counter.
So that killed that reservation. We got to talking further, and she did some further checking, and found a relatively comparable rate at a location around a mile to a mile and a half away from here - which in and of itself is a win win.
Then it turns out that the location is closed on Sundays (our expected return date) and I'll have to drop the car off on Monday instead. For no additional cost.
Anyway, the car is now secured. I talked your Grandpa Don into going with a full size car rather than an economy for a couple of reasons - first and foremost, I don't want to drive or ride with my knees in my chest - and that, unfortunately tends to be the case with 99.9% of "economy" cars.
Second, I wanted room in the car to bring you some friends.
Before you were born, I made a promise to your mother that I wouldn't send up any big bears until you were walking, and at that point, all bets were off regarding you and stuffed animals.
Well, you're walking now.
Just you wait until you see what Grandpa Merlin is bringing for you.
Your mother is gonna wanna kill me.
But I don't care - you're my sunshine and I have every intention of spoiling you rotten and having the time of my life doing it.