Wifi Schmifi

Wow, do I have some catching up to do. This'll probably be another long one. When Mom arrived at the hotel on Tuesday, she had laringytis. Wow, I thought. This might be a nice quiet trip. Nope, she still insisted on giving me the history of the trucking industry..... ;)

Tuesday:
Got a bit of a late start because I was still recovering from my nervous breakdown from Sunday evening. We hit the road around 10:00am. The most exciting thing we saw in Missouri was the power of a tornado. Fortunately, the tornado had already past, but the beautiful white Kentucky horse type fence and gorgeous home that went with it wasn't so beautiful and gorgeous anymore. Oh, we did see a public service announcement at the local fireworks outlet. They suggested no smoking inside the building. Things that make ya go hmmmm. We made it as far as just east of Indianapolis. A lovely town called Greenfield. Just beat the Final Four crowds. This day gave us our only inclement weather. A bit of rain. It was nice to wash off all the bug carcasses from the car and *&%$ carrier. That hotel had wifi, but it was a bit weak, and we were beyond exhausted after dinner, so we just hit the hey.

Wednesday:
On the road at a decent hour. Don't really remember. Natasha is becoming quite the escape artist kitty. The travels must have gotten to her because instead of sitting on anyone's lap or on the pillow in the back window, she has taken to sitting on the floor of the car in any comfy spot she can find. On this particular day, however, she had some litter box issues. That's the nicest way I can put it. After the litter box issues, Andrew proceeded to spill his chocolate milkshake. Of course, the lid had come off by this time. At the next rest stop, I cleaned up everything. Including the litter box. Never have I scooped up chocolate shake litter. Not paying much attention to details, just wanting to get the car free of possibly curlding milk, I didn't notice how my activities had decorated my shirt. The only nice one I had packed in my over night bag. This was noticed Wednesday night at dinner. Ah yes, last night's dinner. It was late. We had made it the rest of the way through Indiana, through Ohio, and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the way through Pennsylvania. That is a friggen long state!!! We made it to Newburgh, NY and stayed near West Point. I was so hungry by the time the food arrived that I pretty much inhaled it. I thought I had just eaten too fast when I was feeling what I thought was just indigestion. So, thinking this, I took a nice big drink of water. WRONG. Apparently something had lodged itself in my sternum area pipe. What a scary feeling. I thought I was going to vomit right there on the table. That or pass out and die. Luckily, it passed. I was a bit light headed for a while, but have recovered nicely. Oh, back to the driving through the states thing. Geez people are freaks! In Misery, there was some construction on the freeway, and a lane closure a mile or so up the road. EVERYONE decided that as soon as they saw the sign, they had to get over that minute. Not the driver from California. I zoomed on up and merged with the normal every other one rule. The truckers are a bit different in either Indiana or Ohio - they are both so unmemorable. The drivers did the same deal as in Misery except that the truckers made themselves God and drove down the middle of the lane not letting anyone pass. This was like 3 miles until the lane closer!! I drove on the shoulder to go around the honyocks. Boy did that erk them. I got honcked at all the way. HEY! The lane was still open, and no one was driving on it. Sheesh.

Thursday:
We got up in time to get a decent start to the day. Went to the Barne's & Nobles across from the hotel because everyone knows that there is a Starbuck's in Barne's & Nobels. I was the 3rd person in line. The lady in the front thought her iced coffee wasn't chocolatey enough. The barista had to fix that. The next guy got what he ordered. When it came to me, I gave her my order for decaf nonfat latte and venti nonfat sugarfree vanilla latte. She pulls out a plastic cup. I tell her these are hot drinks. She appeared non-plussed. She then asked if I wanted whipped cream. Whipped cream on a latte???? She sets the drink on the counter in the non-melting plastic cup, and I ask "what is that?" She replies she doesn't know, what did I order. I repeated my order and she annoyingly tossed that drink in the garbage, then announced she needed to go get some help. There were about 10 people in line at this time. I turned around and asked if there was another Starbucks around here and was told yes. The "help"arrived and promptly pulled out the barista handbook. The lady who had answered yes to my question said, "follow me. We are outta here." My Starbucks angel led me to a Strobo in a new Target. I ordered my drinks (mom was getting one), thanked my angel, and left the store. A few miles down the road, I took a sip of my beverage. YUCK!!! It was a soap latte! Dear Gawd! Once we got to Connecticut, we stopped at the "Rest Area and Canteen" to pee and get a coffee. Rest area coffee had to be better than a soap latte, right? The machine was broken. Finally, almost out of CT and into Mass, I was able to get a passable cup of coffee.
Mom & Dad's friend Bob Cooke, who lives in Stowe MA, was unavailable for lunch, so we dined on Exxon ice cream and other tasty treats. Within the hour, we were pulling into my driveway!! The workers were still hard at work, and there is still tons to do. The furniture is scheduled to be delivered in the morning. No sleeping in for me. I did a preliminary walk through, had a chat with the contractor, got Natasha settled in Andrew's room, and Mom & I headed for the B&B (who doesn't allow pets) in town. Andrew had already taken it upon himself to run next door to Susan's to play with her boys and their much more fun that I have toys.
We are at the B&B (who's wifi works properly unlike other motels) until Saturday morning. It is an oasis. It has sherry.
We are off to the Chinese place around the corner because we can wok. teehee
Tomorrow is furniture day, so I'll update as I can.
Thanks for sticking with us.