random thoughts

So randomness: I put away my summer clothes today. I find this a bit depressing. It may be a touch early as it's not exactly cold yet, but living out of a suitcase I don't have a lot of room for extra clothes. (How did i put them away then, you ask?? well I have been trading things out of my trailer. Today I traded the sweaters for the shorts, and I put back the camping stuff. Too cold now.) Anyway- I didn't put my summer things away last year until mid January, and then they came right back out in March! How crazy and different my circumstances are this year.

Linds sent me the sara barreiles cd and it's amazing! I love her music and how mellow and piano like it is. I was worried though because another singer i quite like, k t tunstall, took a few years to come out with her second album, and it was crap, it scared me that sara might go down the same track. (If you're wondering, kt's cd sounds like electronica meets folk...or rather like a breying animal is being electrocuted. no good!) Thanks linds! I love it!

Also, my kindle broke :( I'm so super sad. I was able to recover all the books and realized I still haven't read a few of them on here, so that's exciting that i have something to read now! I haven't decided whether to buy a new one or not. The price has come down a bunch and i can't imagine going to africa without it...last year i read nearly 20 books while in africa...something I could not have done with actual books! Maybe I'll wait and buy one right before I leave. In the mean time, I contacted amazon and if they won't fix the screen (the rest works fine), I'll take it apart and tinker with it. It costs $160 to fix through an external site. Guhhh! Total bummer!

I just finished the cronicles of narnia. All 7 of them. If you're a christian, you need to read them! They're whimsical and adorable, and totally amazing! The parallels are awesome, and having read cs lewis' other works, I understand how he thinks so much better now! If i were you, I would read them in this order though: 2,4,5,6,3,1,7. That's the order they were written. Or, rather 1,2,4,5,6,3,7 would be okay too because that first book, though a prequel and written nearly last, could be read first to make other things make sense. Anyway - awesome books! My heart was warmed while reading them, just like the feeling you get while reading the bible. :) yea!

I also just finished a book called 'white muzungo' about a woman who moves to kenya and marries a massai man. She's kinda crazy, but it was an interesting book. Plus it has great things in there about kenya and the language that made me smile. I can't wait to go back!

Okay final thought - I kept one pair of shorts out....my skinny shorts. I bought these a year ago and said one day they will fit. I totally forgot about them since I've moved here. I uncovered them today and put them on...and they're loose! Even after Kenya they were too tight to wear in public! So I've been dancing around all day in them (with a hoodie on top of course and a blanket anytime I sit down)! But I have to celebrate because it will be much too cold to soon! The irony is that now I have no clothes that fit...and shouldn't really buy new ones since I'm jobless and all. Go figure!

It has now been more than a month since I’ve come to Canada. Five days more than a month to be exact, and I have to say it’s been fantastic. Never did I dream that I would have this much fun in only a month! Everyone has been so welcoming that I feel like I’m still on vacation. I’ve seen a number of live performances, tried out a few different jobs, and been to many family parties. It’s been fantastic! However… no one told me about the bugs. Never did I consider I would develop such a fondness for spiders, in that we have a common enemy.....bugs. No one bothered to call and tell me ‘Libby…really…you don’t want to move here. There are mosquitoes and flies. Spiders and daddy long legs. Chiggers and ants. Hornets and wasps.’ Yes I know there are bugs everywhere, and coming from Arizona and Texas, I’m used to big bugs and even snakes, but no one mentioned that the bugs here are everywhere. Everywhere! Inside, outside, on the deck, in the cold, in the heat, when it’s raining, when it’s dry. Everyone seems to think there are rules as to when the bugs show up…but the only rule is that I have to be present somewhere on the island, and the bugs will come. I have killed at least 10 mosquitoes a night, every night that I’ve been here. That’s 310 mosquitoes that are no longer flying around pestering others! That number dramatically increases when you’re at the cottage! And you know the only time you kill a bug is when it’s sitting there on you, sucking away, so I have had at least 310 mosquito bites! Then when you think you’ve killed every mosquito in a twelve mile radius, you will learn, while you were busy killing, they were multiplying, and they’re back, in hoards. I start to dread dusk and have started to run for cover. Sunset is no longer a wonder of nature, it’s a warning sign in yellow and red to run for cover. One morning, I woke up to the sound of a fly buzzing around my room. A fly! What an annoying way to start the day! I decided to take the opportunity now that I was up 90 minutes early, to greet the day with yoga. I went downstairs, under the porch, and became quite serene as I was staring at the beautiful coast of the red sand water. Right as I was in some salutation pose, perfectly happy with the universe and zen, I realize a bug was sucking away at my leg. Stupid mosquito! I am never immune! Not even when I’m at one with the universe! So I paused my budda zen-ness and smacked the mosquito, then resumed my unity with nature. Seriously - no one warned me! I wish someone had. I may not have come then…or at least I would have bought a ton of bug spray in the states where it costs half as much.

That’s another thing, everything here is twice as much or more, for smaller quantities, before the 20% tax. I tried to buy Velveeta cheese. Simple enough, right? A six ounce package cost 8 dollars! Seriously!?! It was maybe $6 for the entire 16 ounce package in the States! Has this ‘cheese’ been made by golden cows? It is somehow a more complicated process to ship it to PEI rather than Georgia? I can’t imagine import fees constitute an increase of 300%!?! That’s for everything – Wendy’s doesn’t have a dollar menu here, it’s the ‘value menu’, which I have to say is no value at all. McDonalds and Wendy’s are over my budget! I realize that only points out how low my budget is…but it blows my budget it by far! A McDonalds hamburger, the 59 cent kind, is 1.69 here, plus 20% for taxes.  Again I ask you, are Canadian cows golden? How have people been putting up with this for so long? I can’t fathom it. It seems nearly cheaper to fly to Boston to have lunch rather than pay for an American brand here.

Now that those two rants are out of the way, it really has been lovely! I worked at our family cottage helping my uncle clean up the brush and trees one afternoon, yielding an ax. (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase and now I can ‘yielding an ax’). I was quite good with it by the end, but it took some practice. The first few tries weren’t too impressive. (Lets just say, I would never have saved Red from the belly of the wolf). Now I can cut down trees with the best of them. In fact, hurricane Earl knocked a few over, but the roots were still very attached, so I had to use my best Paul Bunyan skills to free the tree from its roots. It was quite successful. With Sammy at my side, not quite Blue the Ox but nonetheless supportive, we had a great time chopping wood. That night I felt better about putting wood on the fire in the antiquated wood stove, like I had contributed, even though I left the trees fully intact for my uncle to use the chainsaw to cut it into pieces.

Woodsman skills: 7/10

 

Twice now I have worked at my cousin’s popcorn stand. Once in a fair environment and once at a Harley motorcycle rally. We sold popcorn, slushies, snowcones, cotton candy, and soda. All my favorite vices! I have helped in years past at various concerts, so the skills quickly came back to me. It was even fun, especially since I was hanging out with my cousin. However, I do not have her up-selling skills. When people walked by, I was quite happy to sell them what they asked for or smile at them if they were just going by. My cousin though, could draw them in and suggested all sorts of food or drinks they needed with their original request, and quite often, the people agreed! It was fantastic. For what I lacked in salesmanship though, whenever I was there, it tended to get much busier.  Clearly, I will not be going into sales as my next career.

Salesman: 6/10

 

My next attempt at a job was to mow the lawn out at the cottage. Everyone here has large beautiful lawns, perfectly groomed and a gorgeous green. My dog Sampson frolics through these grassy fields. The lawn to mow is not quite two acres and there was a ride on mower, so it sounds simple enough, right? Little did I know there are more levers and knobs on a ride-on mower than there are in the international space station! I get the mower out of the barn, guiding it down the two boards rather than dropping it the foot to the ground. I skillfully check the oil and gas, and add a bit of both to the appropriate holes. Riding high on this accomplishment, I got cocky and thought I could just start the mower. I sat down in the seat, and saw 5 levers staring at me. What!?! The last time I used a mower, it was a push mower, and you hold the bar while you pull the string. I get that. There was one lever that had a picture of a rabbit and a turtle, which I took to be the throttle. I put this to the rabbit as I rationalized that I want to go fast. The lever on the right under my seat was the gear shifter. Gears!?! This is a lawn mower! Well I put this in neutral. Then I looked ahead and to the right of the steering wheel and there was a level selector for the blades. Huh. Level selector. Okay…I pick 3. I didn’t want the grass too low but I didn’t want to have to do this again next week either. Later I will learn that it’s not really what I want that matters for the level. To the left of the steering wheel, there was a lever that said ‘on’ and ‘off’. Ummm…okay. On?? Then I got to the key. Phew! I knew this one – on! Wait. The key was crooked and it didn’t turn anything…oh no. I  turned it to ‘run’ position. Okay…it’s time for the moment of truth. I tried to pull the motor string that’s directly behind me, while keeping my feet on the clutch and brake. This game of twister didn’t seem quite right, so I trusted that I didn’t have to depress the pedals and tried to pull the string, with the image of the mower running away. If only it were so simple. I put all my weight on the mower to brace myself, firmly grabbed the string and pulled it straight into my nose. Ow! Luckily no blood appeared so I tried again. While I avoided my nose, the string still stuck firmly. Something must be wrong. Time to call the person making me do this inane task. I found out that the choke was in the wrong position, the blade should be disengaged (and this means ‘off’… why they don’t put engaged and disengaged is beyond me), and that the key was in fact lost years ago and it’s always in the on position. I’ll figure out how to turn it off later. With this knowledge and all the levers in their correct position, the mower started on the second pull just as was promised! After a quick celebration, I jumped on the mower, depressed the clutch and moved the gear to first. No…the hard part is not behind me. The fun is only beginning. I did about two rows before I realized I should probably engage the blade, which meant moving the left lever to the ‘on’ position. It turned out the grass was much too long for level 3 and I had to do everything at level 6 and redo it at level 3. While I was marveling at my inability to go in a straight line, I realized there was a lot of smoke coming out of the motor. Uh-oh. I didn’t move the choke to the rabbit like I was supposed to. I spent the next 3 hours…yes 3… going over and over the lawn trying to get straight lines. Unfortunately it now looks like a chimpanzee escaped from the zoo, took cover in our barn, got loaded on the booze hidden there, and decided to graciously mow the lawn for us. I believe a monkey could do all this considering one flew around the earth in a machine of equal complexity. It astounds me how complicated this process was. Anyone watching would have thought I should have been wearing a helmet to protect my head from doorways. I mean – I was an engineer working at NASA. I operated a fully functioning satellite while it orbited earth. It didn’t fall from the sky or anything. I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in what my friends call rocket science in only 3 years, but couldn’t decipher the difference between the rabbit, turtle, and choke. I got my masters degree in aerospace engineering in only a year and half, but could I guide the contraption in a straight line? No way. Luckily I may never be asked to mow the lawn for anyone ever again, as the grass is now somehow brown, with long and short patches, in curvy waves, and there’s a puddle of water in the middle of the back lawn. I really have no idea how any of this happened. I will leave the mowing to the experts, like my cousin. Let’s be assured – the PGA will never call me up to groom their course. If we are in a life and death situation, aliens have invaded and challenged me to a mowing contest, well I’m sorry Earth, say a quick prayer, because you won’t be lasting long.

Mower: 1/10 (for eventually getting it started even if I had help).

I’ll keep you updated on other tries at careers as they occur. So far I haven’t found anything to leave engineering for.

I suppose an update is due...

I suppose an update is due, but really I've been to busy to. Canada has been spectacular. I never want to work again. Enrollment was not what they expected for the fall so I get the entire time off! I'll start working next summer after Kenya and a nice spring. I can't even tell you what I've been doing, just enjoying every day. I start off most days with a nice yoga session on the beach (where the house I currently live faces), go visit a few family members, visit more family, have dinner with other family, then go bike riding or motorcycling. It's fantastic! I've read 10 books probably. Sampson (my dog) gets nice long walks. I'm way tanner than I've ever been. Today I was a logger....I was chopping wood at our family cottage getting ready for winter. I think this  makes me a real canadian now that I've been in the woods for  a while. A few days ago I helped my cousin's business selling popcorn and slushies at a motorcycle rally and got all the cotton candy I wanted to eat. Went to a few birthday parties over the weekend - a three year olds and a 6 year olds. Ride my motorcycle all over, hit the beach (both the red and white sand beaches). Really I'm not sure you want to hear my update. Life is just too good! Oh but I guess there is one bad thing - bugs. I have bites everyone and for some reason flies insist on waking me up around 9am. How rude! :)

Made it!!

So I totally made it! We got a great sleep, woke up early, jumped in the car and headed for the border. After 45 minutes at the border where they questioned every part of my plan twice, I started to realize they didn't believe me. They then rejected me from the border and said I was too much of a risk that I would probably stay in Canada. I was shocked! All of a sudden my grand plan was ruined! How could they reject me!?!! Then I remembered I had my baby picture/canadian citizenship card. My mom got this when I was 10 days old, so the picture is a fair resemblence to me. Puffy cheeks, no hair, frilly dress...total likeness! Well I pulled this out of my pocket and handed it to the guard, and he said 'well this changes everything!' and it did! I knew my US passport was nearly worthless! I was let in, they inspected my trailer, and said as long as I bring everything out that I'm bringing in, I can go in without paying a dime for duty! Ahhh! (The angels from above began to sing...) I drove off and could hear my accent start to change now that I'm officially a Canadian and US ex-patriot. Additionally I got this crazy craving for Le Batt's beer, a strong affection for maple leaves, and a desire to get a pet beaver. Yea Canada! Linds and I made the last 300 mile drive to my uncle's and we put my trailer in its new home for the next 8 months. We were quite happy to detach it from the car, drove off, got mom, dad, and sampson (my dog) from the airport, and I started my Canadian vacation! It's taken a few days to record this as it's been so much fun! More to follow later, but thanks for your prayers and Linds and I somehow got here completely safe! there was more than 1 angel tracking us I'm sure!

Distance: 7000km (cuz i'm canadian now)

Driving time: 84 hours (in a 264 hour period)

Books read: still 0....huh.

Provinces: 19 (cuz i`m canadian now)

Nearly there....

Wow! So many days have passed and so very many random things have happened. I think I left off after having just entered Illinois. Well on Wednesday, we woke up quite late after getting in very late, had a nice lunch (yes, that late) at IHOP and jumped on the road. We stayed at a brand new super nice Motel 6. You can dog it, but there are places I stayed while on travel for work that wouldn’t hold a candle to this motel! We arrived in Glen Ellyn, near Chicago, after only a few hours of hassle-free driving to visit my aunt and uncle. I had a nice 24 hour visit with them, during which we went to an arboretum. What is that? Well I had no idea either. It’s a giant park where my uncle volunteered where they do a lot of research about the different types of trees. Really pretty and so very different from Arizona.

Thursday, I left Lindsey in Chicago with my aunt and uncle and drove to Indianapolis to see my friend Brette, making this the only part of this whole journey in which I drove alone. Lindsey was going to fly to New York on Friday while Brette and I drove 12 hours to meet her there. Anyway, back to Thursday: after a few hours of guilt tripping for leaving ‘early’ from my aunt, I drove 3 hours to Indianapolis, and with a ton of luck on my side, found two perfect street parking spots for my monster vehicle downtown. I met up with Brette, quickly changed, and headed downtown to celebrate Brette’s birthday at St Elmo’s downtown. It was restaurant week so we got an incredible 3 course meal for only $30! Our waiter could be the All-State man’s twin, and was hilarious! I bring this up because it was the start of a random night. GenCom was the same weekend, and if you’re not familiar, I saw a million trekkies/sci-fi/comic geeks walking around with red lanyards and swords. The oddest part of this is that a guy would come up to dance and use the pick-up line ‘where’s your sword?’. Huh!?! We went to a few fun bars and ended up at one funny one particular.  A huge break dancing expo started out of nowhere right in front of us, and we were entertained by 7 amazing dancers that are apparently in a troop to appear on ‘america’s got talent’ next summer…..and one very drunk boy that thought he was as good as these guys. Too awesome and funny! It was like a clothing commercial where everyone just randomly starts dancing and others join in! I fell in bed that night at 130am next to a very inebriated birthday girl.

Friday: On the road at 630am with a (still) inebriated no longer birthday girl. We met a friend of ours for breakfast in Columbus Ohio and kept going. Driving 800 miles does not allow for a lot of stops, especially considering it was too exciting to get to New York! One issue I’ve had is my mileage range. It’s normally over 350 miles, but with the 4000lb leech attached to my car (also known to some as my future home), I’m lucky to get 150. Well, after much stressing, I realized my stupid empty gas light comes on using the car’s internal calculations at exactly 50 miles remaining. Guhh! All these days I’ve been stopping 40 miles early thinking it’s like every other car that the light comes on with the last gallon! Ugh! So, I unwittingly test the boundary of that internal calculation. In the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania, my gas light came on. No big deal. Just go for a few more miles and there will be a stop…right? That’s what has happened everywhere else. Well I pass an exit that doesn’t say anything about having a gas station and did. I’m down to 10 miles. No big. This has happened before. So far the closest I’ve come is 6 miles to go and there was still well over a gallon of gas in the tank. With the assumption that Pennsylvania is too lazy to post every gas station like every other state I had been in, I exit at the next station. We had turned the a/c off a few miles earlier. No reason to tempt fate, right? No station in sight. The very nice toll man informs me it’s down the road ‘yonder’ then 4 miles down on the left. Uh oh. My calculation currently reads 2 miles. I guess we’re really going to test this out! We go ‘yonder’, turn left, and realize we’re in Amish country. To ensure my car makes it the whole way, I put the car in neutral on these giant hills and coast about 2 miles, even managing to pass a couple of buggy’s and plain clothed riders. Brette and I were cracking ourselves up with button and electricity quips, and were sure to take a picture of a buggy from behind, so as not to freak out the occupant, as I heard on a lifetime movie that the Amish don’t like their picture taken. (So we took a picture of the buggy….not the Amish or their horse…get it?). Anyway we passed two abandoned gas stations….a cosmic joke perhaps. I was trying not to freak out though, as I am now unemployed, I am trying out a new zen personality. So far I like it. It’s less sarcastic, but a little boring. Luckily we pull into the gas station and I’ve only been on empty for 4 miles, hehe. I still had a gallon left in the tank. Stupid car. The rest of the drive was uneventful until we entered New York. I have been dreading driving the trailer around Manhattan. This is the one part of the trip I was actually not looking forward to…and that was even before I knew what a hassle the massive lead weight was. Not too bad, other than the $18 toll to get on the island. (So far the toll count is $60).  I had lined up a parking spot at a truck parking lot on 125^th, which it turns out is Harlem. Huh. I drop my truck off to this lot that couldn’t have held 25 normal parking spots, let alone be home to 50 massive trucks. They had them so packed in, I happily turned over the keys rather than try to maneuver in the lot, and headed for the subway with Brette. I anticipated that this wouldn’t be the best neighborhood, so I had done the research early on where the stop was, which line to take, etc. This would have gone according to plan had I not left my wallet in the car. Oops! Brette and I had to walk back the 2 very scary blocks where I found my car in its new home for two days, completely unlocked…huh. Good thing there are like 6 locks on the trailer. The only thing to steal in the car was the GPS (and apparently my wallet). We head back to the subway, and as I go through the turnstile my bag gets stuck. The handle is exactly caught on the silver bar. I’m not sure I could redo that if I tried! Brette runs her card through but that only allowed her and my newly freed bag through. I’m now waiting on the other side of the turnstile for her to go buy one more ticket to get her through, since jumping the turnstile is frowned upon. We get on all the right lines and pop out in time square with a short two block walk to the Marriott Marquis – a gorgeous hotel where my sister and friend Amber were waiting for us to arrive. A long long day of driving and a very patient (surprisingly not hung-over) passenger, we made it! Now was time to party in NY! After dropping our stuff in the hotel we went out for a great meal and a few drinks with my best friends.

Saturday – we woke up at a reasonable time and considering there were four girls sharing one bathroom, did well to go get our traditional bagel by 10am. There really is nothing quite as good for breakfast as a New York bagel. Forget cheesecake! We took the subway up to 190^th street to a museum my sister really wanted to check out called ‘Cloisters’ full of medieval art, including a unicorn tapestry room. Yup – it turns out unicorns are real. While the mythical aspects may not be entirely true, there are 7 sightings of unicorns in the Old Testament and supposedly they were real. They were as strong as an ox and could take an elephant down using, you guessed it, the horn. We saw really nice pieces of art and tapestry but were astounded by the gorgeous-ness (yup that’s a new word) of the park that held the Cloisters. It’s called Tryon Park and I can’t believe no one has told me about this place. Way nicer than Central Park and so pretty! Views of the Hudson, cool bridges and tunnels, and apparently the gardens were recreations of British gardens derived from poetry. The rest of the afternoon passed quickly with lunch and shopping, and it was time to get ready for our big show. This is the real reason I got this rag-tag group of friends together, to see Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes in ‘Promises, Promises’. I’m a big Kristin fan. She’s so positive and has a cool outlook on life while managing to stay Christian in what is so not a typical Christian profession. Plus she has an amazing voice and is adorable! Okay…the play was amazing! They sang songs like ‘Say a Little Prayer’ and ‘I’ll never fall in love again’ – great Burk Bacaracks (sp??) that I was introduced to by the ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ Soundtrack. Well – to have my favorite actress singing them right in front of me! Wow! The plot was really interesting and it was funny, and I loved the random dance sequences, and that it was set in the 50’s….so fun! We all left the theatre buzzing to a quaint Italian place down on 49^th. (See how I just throw street names in like I’m a local….yea I pretty much am now….I mean this is my seventh trip to the island.) The food was great but randomly, at the end of the meal, our waitress informs us that the service charge listed on the bill isn’t gratuity, it’s for the florist and pianist. Huh!? I’m paying extra for their flowers?? Random! So to fully appreciate what we paid for, my friends and I piled into the one person bathroom to admire the hundreds of rose petals that were apparently carefully placed there. We took a few pictures and had a few laughs to where we felt justified that we got the full value of the flowers. There was a waiter totally cracking up as we all piled out of the bathroom like it was a clowncar.  

Sunday – a little slower moving after our big night out, we checked our bags with the bellman, and headed out to a French restaurant for lunch. (yup….that slow). We had an enjoyable lunch full of laughs. Clearly my plan to spend my last weekend as a patriot (as I would soon be an ex-pat) with my three best friends was perfect! The groups melded seamlessly and it was totally relaxing! I couldn’t have had a more awesome fun trip! We went to the M&M and Hershey’s stores to kill time, said goodbye to one friend, went to Madame Taussaud’s Wax museum and took a million silly pictures, said goodbye to the next friend, and Linds and I ran to St Patrick’s Cathedral for the 4pm mass before hitting the road. I love this church! It’s so intricate! Lindsey said if the Catholic Church decides that there’s an entire country that needs feeding, they could just sell of the artifacts in St Patricks and keep them well fed for a year! Randomly, the mass we made it to was in Spanish, so we got time to reflect on the magnificence of the church. We ran back to the hotel, jumped on the subway, and headed back to get our car. I may not have described the parking lot adequately for fear my mother reads this. It was pretty sketchy. I wasn’t too sure my car, trailer, or any combination therein would be there when I showed up with my claim ticket. Did you hear about the cop shootings in Harlem on Saturday night? Well that was one block north of this place. When Linds and I walked the two blocks from the subway to the lot, there were hoards of SWAT wandering around. I’m not sure how hard my angels had to work to get me through that one, but they do a great job. Oh and the car was in perfect condition. Huh. Cool! We got on the road without too many wrong turns as my GPS was in a constant ‘recalculating’ loop – great. We passed through Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, bringing the total states passed through up to 16 for me! (Linds missed out on Ohio, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, so her number is much much lower!) Consequently, I had never been to Ohio, so that was a new state for me. Only 5 more to see: Hawaii, Alaska, North and South Dakota, and Montana, but there’s not much hope for those on this road trip. (Hey…as one who loves stats, I’ve been to 90% of the states in the US. Cool! Great time to leave!) We stopped in Augusta, Maine for the night, at …you guessed it… a Motel 6, with a mere 7 hour drive ahead of us for Monday. When we pulled in there was a fire engine out front....great sign! Apparently the fire has been contained and we're safe to go in. yea! If we had arrived any earlier, we would have been kicked out until now anyway! What great timing! 

I have officially been on vacation / unemployed for 10 days. It feels great! I got my last paycheck, so it’s really real. Linds pointed out to me when we were in Oklahoma that since we had everything I owned with me in Oklahoma…did that make me and Okie?? Dork. Tomorrow…I will be Canadian!

Hours passed since trip started: 240

Hours driven: 64 (12 + 6 + 19 + 3 + 4 + 13 + 7)

Miles driven: 3600 miles

Tolls: $90 (guhhH!)

Books read……0

Favorite town: Shartsville (hahahahahha)

2000 miles down...

So we made it to san antonio on saturday with no hassles (from van horn) and had a great couple of days at home with my parents, manda, kim, and josh. Yesterday (Tues) we were on the road again starting at 5am so we could avoiad San Antonio and Austin morning traffic. We did! But around Dallas only moved 40 miles in 90 minutes because of construction. Guhh! Other than that traffic was good and we drove over 1000 miles in one day! Got all the way through Missouri and Oklahoma to Springfield IL, pulling in at 1am. Having taken turns driving, we also took turns napping all day. :)

We drove right through this great little town called Joplin where the battery we're using for the satellite is made. I waved at it. Also I waved at the arch in St Louis. Even at 10pm that thing looks amazing! No bbq though...our road meals include mostly the wendys dollar menu. There's just so much to eat off that, especially with the spicy nuggets!

Okay: Serious blonde moment, so when were in Rolla Missouri, apparently the very top of the Ozark mountains, (with a wendys that claims not to make spicy chicken nuggets when I them earlier that day in Denton, TX....whatever). There were a few extras from Deliverance wandering around and one of them came up to talk to me. He said 'you know you can flip your hitch, right? I have all my tools with me, I can help!' He definitely looked like he just came off the set but seemed very trusting and nice. As Linds and I follow him to an empty (well lit and flat) parking lot down the street, she tries to tell me that this is the situation our teachers in school told us to avoid, but he had his wife with him and I just didn't get a bad feeling from him. So he totally helped us switch the hitch instead of going down three inches it now goes up three inches, giving us so much more clearance, and allowing the trailer to use all 4 wheels! How did I not think of this?? Linds told him I was an engineer and he just laughed. It turns out between he and his wife (who was missing many of her teeth), they have 11 red headed kids, he's a diesel mechanic, and they were on their way home in the Ozarks. What a wierd meeting! I called him my angel and we hurried off. Who knew! So simple and the car drives great now!

Earlier that day as we were entering the very hilly Oklahoma, I turned to Linds and asked of she would ever pull a trailer again. We both said no, then agreed this was the worst idea I've ever had. Then we giggled for like 10 minutes because this was a completely random comment and out of no where. We have had a blast with the radio classics, comedy, broadway, and simply sinatra stations on sirious, spent plenty of time giggling along the way, but boy this trailer is a hassle! I fear one of the tires will blow out today, but luckily we fixed our spare in San Antonio, so we once again have a spare.

The drive from Phoenix to PEI is 3200 miles, but with our stops to San Antonio, Chicago, Indiana, New York, it's 3900 miles. but....this means we're past 1/2 way!!!! Who woo! We'll be there by Monday!

Day 1 - Headed to San Antonio - a rocky start

So... last night we loaded up Linds' stuff until 4am, made two runs to her new place, and saw one of the 4 tires on the trailer was ripped open - yes ripped. It was 4am...the movers were coming to load up my stuff at 8. I tried to put the spare on at 3am in the nearly dark, but didn't have a 13/16 lug wrench, and managed to shear off the the little square on my torque wrench rated to 80 ft-lbs...yea I did use my muscles! Harbor Freight doesn't open until 8 to get a better jack and the right tool. Of course the movers showed up early and it was raining...haha. They moved my stuff down the 3 stories to a covered garage while I went on the errand then changed the tire. Two hours later, the trailer was loaded up and we just had a few things left to do. We were on the road by 1:30pm, and around 5:30pm in Lordsburg New Mexico realized the tires were dangerously low. We redistributed the weight in the trailer so the back of my mariner was more than 5" off the ground. I was going to ditch about 100lbs in shelves when this guy drove up and asked how much I was selling them for...in the weirdest exchange I've ever had, I walked away with $25 for stuff I was trying to ditch. Between the extra air and the redistribution, we were on our way again. We made it to El Paso (Texas!!!) and hit the first Taco Cabana we could find. Linds really pulled through and drove two more hours to Van Horn while I slept. We're only 400 miles from San Antonio....and I have to say the last 24 hours have felt like 40! I've heard though that a rocky start allows for a great trip overall! Here's hoping!

 

Miles driven: 500

Cash made $25!

mpg: 14 - not bad!

Bumper still in tact? Oh yea!