Well, today was a long one. We got stuck in DFW airport on Tuesday, arriving in Baltimore 3.5 hours late. Daniel was waiting patiently for us, but by the time we got something to eat, we arrived in State College at nearly 10:00 PM. It was too late for us to get started, so we opted to sleep on the floor in Andrew's room and get an early start.
Our restaurant choice was near Harrisburg, and a good one. Daniel had some really good looking ribs and a salad. I got a huge seafood platter that had two kinds of shrimp, fried scallops, an awesome crab cake, clam strips, and fried haddock. Bubby got a baked potato and salad, and we all shared our meat. There was enough on my plate to feed the other two, and we had an outstanding homemade tiramisu, to boot. I got Daniel and Bubb to clown around for me outside the restaurant, and then we headed for the barn.
I woke up at 3:15 AM, totally switched on. I showered, roused Bubb and we prepared to depart. Daniel came out and we took a load of garbage from the living room to the curb for him. He needs to get the final things out of the apartment, which would only take a couple of hours, but he just can't spare the time right now. His dissertation has to go to committee tomorrow. If we hadn't needed to make tracks this morning, we could have stuck around and helped him get things finalized. He looks tired, but I think he is anxious to get this all over with. He has been looking forward to this for six years.
We left Dan at about 4:15 and stopped at a 24 hour WalMart in State College. I wanted to get a piece of rope and create a barrier so if the load shifted, it wouldn't fall against the overhead door. We also got a few "supplies" for the road, red ropes, Vienna fingers, soda, water, ice, and gobstoppers. We couldn't find our way to I-80 at first, but after a couple of false, starts, we got there. We drove 679 miles today, from 4:45AM to 6:45PM. It was a long day. We got stuck in traffic for over an hour south of Chicago, there was an overturned semi truck. We arrived in Davenport, IA this evening tired, but back on schedule. We planned some 550 mile targets before we left home, and now that we are in Davenport, we can make the other targets with about 8-9 hours of driving.
The truck is new, runs great, and seems powerful enough. Even with the AC on, we are getting 9-10 mpg, which is better than was hoped for. Every gas stop (three today) Bubb cleans the windows and hits the potty. She is my navigator, and loves her AAA trip book, which has a blown up map for every mile of road we are traversing. She stays busy highlighting where we have been and checking off the miles.
We are enjoying our current book, "The Secret Life of Bees", and have two chapters left. It helps the time pass. We are planning to stop in Kearney, NE tomorrow and look around. We hope to spend the night in North Platte, along the Platte River. Iowa and Nebraska will take longer to cross. It is over 360 miles across Iowa, and I haven't looked at Nebraska yet.
Time for bed, I'm beat. We will try to get out early tomorrow too.
Buboppy
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