Road Trip Log 1.1

I promised myself I would keep a better record of our travels this year, and my blog seems as good a place as any. So here goes.

Our first trip of 2016: Buffalo, NYC, AC, DC, Chattanooga 

The plan was to leave Thursday around 3:00 pm to drive to Joplin. We would arrive in Dayton Friday night to stay with our friends Bret and Kathy. We’d spend Saturday morning with them, then head northeast to be in Buffalo by bedtime. Sunday would be a day to rest. Church in the morning followed by cycling along the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Business starting on Monday morning.

The best laid plans of mice and men…

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Star Date 3/3/16

3:00 p.m. I was packed and ready to go.  Even had my semi-monthly mani/pedi done.

Then I took a nap.

“Why did I take a nap instead of hitting the road as planned?” you may ask. Because some silly man decided that it was the perfect day to schedule the quarterly company-wide business review meetings. Six of them. (Sorry, sweetheart, but it really was silly to plan those meetings the same day we were leaving! You should have held them the day before or last week. But I love you anyway. And I’m glad you held them before we left town. You are a great leader.)

7:00 p.m. Ron finally got home. It was fun sitting on the couch watching the two puppies follow Ron from our bedroom to the garage to the front door to the kitchen to our room to the trailer to the garage to the…You get the picture. They followed him every step he took like, well, like puppies do. He kept trying to tell them, “I’m just going to the workshop! I’m not leaving yet!” But they weren’t fooled! They knew something was up! He stopped to give them treats and play ball a few times. But they knew. They were sad when he put the last bags in the car.

Two hours later, the car was packed, puppies petted, the trailer hitched, and we hit the road! Without the puppies. They looked so sad!

Change of plans: we were headed to Tulsa for the night! If we got to Tulsa Thursday night, we could still be in Dayton by bedtime Friday.

While listening to a great Tim Keller podcast on Prayer, we suddenly heard a loud BOOM! A tire blew out just over an hour away from home. Sparks were flying! Metal fender was blown clean off the trailer! Well…partially off the trailer.

Change of plans, again: We were not going to make it to Tulsa.

Ron carefully pulled off the road and spent the next hour removing the damaged fender without further damaging it (or his hands) and then changed the tire. Not an easy thing to do with a fully loaded trailer! I stayed in the SUV and made hotel reservations a mere two hours from home.

We got to our hotel room at 1:00 a.m.

No one was hurt. The trailer wasn’t too damaged. We laughed a bunch. And we did not start a grass fire, which is a very real danger this time of year in southern Oklahoma!

Overall, the day was a success! We could get up early, fix the trailer and still be in Dayton tomorrow.

Hey, life’s an adventure!

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Star Date 3/4/16

Entry 2:00 p.m.

Ron woke early, ate breakfast, and worked to repaired/reattached the fender while I rested and had a wonderful breakfast of fruit, omelette, bacon, and pancakes. By the way, I like food. We dropped the tire off for replacement.

Change of plans. Again.

The trailer repair and tire replacement took a long time. We left OKC at noon. We are not going to be in Dayton tonight.

But I am with my love. It’s a beautiful day. Life is good. I am grateful our friends are flexible. We hope to be at their place for lunch tomorrow. I hope. I hope I hope. Right now, I’m not planning on anything.

12:00 midnight.

We are in Terra Haute, Indiana, for the night. I drove much of the day while Ron slept or worked on emails and phone calls.

I realized I failed today. Miserably. We drove through Illinois and did not stop at a Starbucks. Not once! I was driving! IT WAS MY JOB! We don’t have the Illinois mug. I have failed! How can I live with this failure! Tomorrow I will try to find a way to console myself…

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Star Date 3/5/16

Gloomy weather.

We made it to Dayton to spend a few hours with Bret and Kathy. Their son Graham is home for spring break. I really enjoy him! He is an amazingly talented (and ornery) young man. We had a tasty vegan lunch then went sight seeing: The Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, Huffman Prairie, and the US Air Force Museum. We didn’t have much time, unfortunately, so we will have to come back another time to explore the museum more.

Seven hour drive through fog, rain, snowy mix, and yuck. But we are safe and warm in our hotel in beautiful Buffalo, New York.

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Star Date 3/6/16

I slept very late! It was glorious! Then we went to lunch, got a few things done Ron needed to do to fix issues with the trailer (a recurring theme on our travels), and headed to Canada.

A few firsts for me today:

  • A stamp in my passport!
  • Italian Wedding Soup
  • Viewing Niagara Falls from the Canadian side

I adore spending the Sundays with Ron on the road. I wish we had been able to ride our bikes, but the temperature was around freezing. A bit too cold to pedal along the falls. Maybe next time.

 


Oh! And I have joined Blogger University course Photography 101. The first assignment is “Home”. Since I am at our home away from home, below is my picture. It reminds me to take the stairs whenever possible!

 

image

 

joy, New York, Photo101, road trips, travel, YAH Mugs


KathleenBDuncan

I write about my life, my journey, my family, and my faith. I am wife to one, mom to seven with one in heaven, and grandmother to many. I am also full-time caregiver to my stepmom E who suffers from dementia due to Alzheimer’s. In my spare time I like to read, travel, crochet, bike, and play with our black pug Molly.

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