Day Log 07.30.05 Saturday

This morning we were up at 6 AM just for our own survival. We hit the road at 7:45 headed to Kirtland, Ohio to see the church sites and try to catch up with Otto and Amy Derr from Logan. By 10 we were at the visitors center only to find out that the Derr’s had the day off. We called their phone number and drove up to their little home as directed by the other missionaries where we left a note. Maybe we will see them before they leave to go back home. We toured the sites and headed back on the road at 2:30. As we look at the map it seems impossible for us to get all the way home tonight so we will take it in three hours blocks and see where we are. I would expect we will stay somewhere here in New York tonight and drive on in tomorrow.

We left Kirtland and got back on I-90 headed to Erie, Pennsylvania, there we picked up I-86/Rt-17 that crosses into New York state. Since we have been in NY the farmland has changed into what the folks out here call mountains, yet you see no rocks, just over grown hills. Deer country for sure with a few dead ones on the side of the road. We just passed Cuba where the locals must not have paid the road tax. We almost lost the car in a pothole on the highway. Now a mile or two it is new blacktop and smooth sailing. It is also a fact of life that the further east we travel the speed limit goes down. Here in upper NY we are limited to 65, where just yesterday we dropped from 75 to 70. Same kinds of roads, just different ups and downs, weather, and abilities to drive faster, or at least that is what the political line is. These folks passing us would feel right at home on the flat open roads of the mid-west and west. I still remember coming down the mountain near Denver at 80.

We have already come to miss the dry air, even if it is hot. We think it is better to be fried, baked, or roasted than broiled. The humidity caught up to us yesterday and the air-conditioning just has to say on to keep us from being hot and wet. Mom thinks I got too used to the dry air too quick and will have a tough few days when we get home.

We had a plan to stop early in Elmira, NY and then make a short trip of it on Sunday. As all men know it is best to have a second plan that will work. We missed the exit that had places to stay by one, didn’t turn back and for the next six and half hours the trip was very tight. In not stopping to eat and sleep when we should have we just kept coming. As the day ended at 1:30 AM Sunday morning we had been driving 13 hours, not counting the four and half hours in Kirtland. We traveled 737 miles today and it was not the right way to end a good trip. We had eaten lunch in Kirtland at noon and ate again in Newberg, CT at 11:30 PM. My advice to others is don’t do it that way!

It is Sunday morning at 10:30 AM and mom is still sleeping and I am hoping will forgive me for not knowing when to stop, or picking the wrong place to turn off. I have been going over the travel book we kept track of things in and the total miles traveled on this trip were 8291. We spent $500 on gas not including an oil change. Mom has the figures for times we didn’t crash in someone else home. The good news is that she got the check from the NC nursing home, and I received one third of my vacation pay the state has been holding for the past two years. So other than a rock chip in the windshield, we seem to have made it across country and back with out a mishap. Mom’s prayers are heard again, and I have to ask for forgiveness again. Some times I am a slow learner.

Thanks to all of you for helping make this a great trip and listening to or watching the computer picture stories we had to tell.