Day 1-ROAD TRIP!! (July 1, 2013)

Well, this is what we’ve been waiting for-moving out. The night before any move is always emotional. We know we have to leave, but we hate leaving what we love. We ended up leaving Jace and Charlie (the dog), and a whole lot of friends. I don’t know how people travel with pets for days at a time, but I found it to be very challenging. We booked dog-friendly hotels but what the heck do you do with the dog when you're eating or sightseeing?  That was my biggest dilemma. On top of that, Charlie is terrified of being alone. He loses hair when he’s nervous and I was afraid he’d be bald with the stress of traveling for 11 days and being stuck in kennels and empty hotel rooms.

Boys riding down the road



We planned on heading out at 6am. Stopping in Ohio at Kings Island for the twilight hours and then finding something to do the following day. As usual, it was POURING rain. We loaded the cars while trying to hold up umbrellas (My clothes ended up getting wet inside my suitcase). This took an extra hour. So the official start time was 7am EST. First stop 20 minutes down the road-I needed some coffee. Second stop two more hours down the road-potty break. The day continued like this so my estimation of our arrival was sadly off.

 

Loading in the rain

ice cream for breakfast-frozen dairy can always be a meal.

Cookies for breakfast, too

We went through North Carolina and saw a rainbow (missed the picture because of the trees)- gas is $3.58.

We scaled the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and drove through a fog advisory -gas is $3.09 (waiting for Laney to send me the picture)

We wove and wound our way through Kentucky, the GPS was set wrong, but that’s a story for another day-gas in Kentucky is $3.33. Driving in Kentucky is like an extreme sport, a roller coaster while you’re in the car. Haley was not impressed. (I wanted to go faster, but I kept losing my trail cars so I drove the speed limit).

 It was also good that we had walkie-talkies (don’t be jealous) because there is no cell reception in the crevices of Kentucky. 

Kentucky-it’s pretty but the roads are built through the mountains.

Finally, we made it to the border of Ohio. Traffic stopped. Not because we were in awe, but because there were a lot of cars. We sat, in our cars, on the highway. Two hours later we crept into Cincinnati.  I had forgotten places still have bumper to bumper traffic. What a sheltered life I have been living. Gas in OH is $3.23.

Traffic was actually moving here-this doesn't represent the gruelling ordeal

I don’t think I’ve mention that I hurt my arm about a week and a half ago. I was catching kids jumping into the pool (little kids, you know-Alyse and Kasen) and I felt a catch in my shoulder. The next day it was worse and I ended up asking Yany to come home because being vertical was excruciating. So, even with Motrin and steroids, I am still in a lot of pain. One position that I’ve found that eases the pain is to raise my arm straight in the air. This is good if you want people to think you are waving. If your armpit stinks, then you get a bigger social bubble.

Kasen helps me out.

We drove through rain off and on all day. The temperature at our stop was a frigid 71 degrees. We were looking for our jackets-it’s July for crying out loud!

We are going to try the big amusement park/water park at Kings Island in Cincinnati and do a full day instead of just the twilight part. We are hoping for at least 80s and no rain so we don’t freeze, our blood is used to HOT and humid.

DeeAnn-Military Lifer Wife