Home Again... After A 2817 Mile, 19 Day Road Trip

6:52

7:20

8:04

It's 7:30, I have been up for an hour, the morning sky is beginning to lighten and a huge raft of ducks is floating by.  It's 39º, rain is forecast around noon, perhaps snow this evening.  Can't wait.  It is strange to be back in my living room, listening to the radio, drinking coffee after being on the road for so long.

Yesterday was not as bad a day as we thought.  Evie woke feeling poorly, not having had a good night.  But she wanted to get on the road early, so we left around 6:30 (7:30 EST) and our GPS said we should arrive home at 4:45.  And we did, almost exactly to the minute despite a number of stops for food, gas, or just to get out and stretch.  Fortunately, the weather turned more amenable, with some sun and blue skies occasionally taking over for the gray, cheering our moods.  The drive ended up not being as bad as we thought, with no traffic jams, easy going through Louisville, Cincinnati, and Columbus, and most trucks drove carefully.  And Evie felt better so that she could give me a break during the afternoon, when we were driving north from Columbus.  We made our last stop at the Ohio border, to get our last tank full of cheap Ohio gas and pick up dinner, a Subway sandwich for me, a Mc Donald's salad for Evie.

Leaving Eire, PA

The sky as we were coming close to Chautauqua was exceptional, not the usual clouds and even rain or snow, thank goodness.  All we would have needed was to fight our way through snow.  So it was an easy and happy return to Chautauqua county and our home.

Road To Chautauqua Lake

The lake looked choppy but welcoming, the yard full of dead fall, the rain gage filled up to eight inches, from both lots of rain and snow I assume.  We unpacked quickly as we are getting better at taking less on road trips and we did not buy much while we were gone.  By 5:30, we were relaxing on our couches, sipping a glass of wine and listening to Julie Mason on POTUS, almost as if we were never gone for 19 days.  Dinner was easy, just open the wrapped sub or salad and I have to say, I have had enough of road food the last two days.  We got caught up on a couple of series, both DIVORCE and DESIGNATED SURVIVOR, neither one really grabbing us.  Perhaps we were just tired.  We went to bed early, for us, tired but happy to be home.  As always, we had wonderful visits with both Tom and Beth's families but it's always nice to be home.