Friday, July 10, 2015

Back Home

Four weeks on the road were enough.

After four days in Racine County Park (a lovely campsite even if there was no Wi-Fi or direct sewer hook-up), Terry and I decided to head home a day early (Wednesday). In this case it meant a long detour west to get around the worst of Chicago's traffic.

We stopped once more at the Big Sandy campground in Swanton, Ohio where the weather finally caught up to us good and hard. It poured all night leaving huge puddles in all the roads and sites within the camp.

We managed to find 10 only semi-soggy minutes to roll up our hose and tuck away our power cord and were on the road east shortly after 7 AM. 

At first we stayed on US Highway 20 which parallels the Ohio Turnpike figuring to 1) save money on the very high tolls and 2) avoid the high speed crowd in the heavy rain. About 100 miles east of Swanton, however, we got back on the toll road. By then the rain had slackened off somewhat and we were able to make decent time even if we had to pay for it eventually.

We got caught by the rain again while on US 15 heading north out of Williamsport and just 20-30 miles away from home. Rain and fog so serious that you couldn't see a 100 feet in front of the Tundra. Luckily that only lasted for about 15 miles and we were able to finish our trip and back into the driveway in only an occasional light drizzle.

Four weeks on the road total and we really enjoyed all of it. Most of the Vibe is unpacked and I'll be making a few calls tomorrow to get it and the Tundra serviced. The Tundra needs an oil change (8K+ miles on this trip!) and a little TLC. It performed quite well along the way even if it did drink up a little more gasoline than I would like. Averaging 9+ mpg isn't so bad.

Now I've got to try and salvage what's left in the garden (something ate most of the beets, topped the beans and carrots, and simply devoured the lettuce), cut the grass (if it ever gets dry enough, I mean 8-1/4 inches of rain in four weeks. Seriously?), and do some general maintenance. Then, as Terry heads back to Skokie for a SAGA event, I'll have to head up to the Adirondacks to mow and maintain even more.

Thanks again to Rick, Sandy and Chelsea for a great visit. Even if Chelsea didn't start to smile and respond a whole lot until AFTER we left. ;-)
Thanks for meeting with us in Bonner's Ferry for lunch, Cassie and Patrick Phillips. It was great to see you after speaking online for all these years.
Thanks to the two repairmen who were prompt, knowledgeable and competent. A working AC and refrigerator are a must in a travel trailer.
Thanks to Brian and Vicky for the lovely tour of your home and the local museum in Milwaukee.
Thanks to John and Cindy for the tour of the Brookfield Zoo of Chicago and a great seafood lunch.
And thanks to the travel gods for seeing us safely over 8000 miles.

2 comments:

Rev. Paul said...

We're glad you made it home okay. Sounds like a great trip!

Tina Marie the Willow Witch said...

Welcome home! Glad you had fun on your adventure.