Road Trip, Part II

Monday morning, I woke up after an amazing long, uninterrupted sleep. Jake took the day off, which I kinda felt guilty about. I packed my suitcase and got everything ready to leave.

But, it was a bit too early (I couldn’t check into my hotel room until after 4:00 p.m.) So, we went out to breakfast. Back at the house, I loaded the truck, said my goodbyes and headed out.

It was a nice day and, for the second time this year, I had to turn the A/C on. I got into North Carolina exactly at noon. I hit Virginia at 1:45 p.m.

Now, I’m not sure just what kind of insects are in those mountains, but whatever they were, they all decided to smash themselves on my windshield! I keep using the windshield washer, but couldn’t get the bug guts off!

You have to go through two tunnels on the trip and you lose the radio in both. Unfortunately, I lost the phone as well, but didn’t realize it. Once I got into Charleston, I had a fork in the road and the phone didn’t tell me which way to go!

So, I got off the expressway and reset the phone. I found out I had missed my exit, but only by about five minutes. I traveled some side streets and got to the hotel.

Because I had had a big breakfast, I had never stopped for lunch. So, once I got settled, I asked the concierge for list of nearby restaurants. I already knew about the chain restaurants near the mall, but I’m not a big fan of chain restaurants.

So, I found one reasonably nearby that was supposed to be the “best” Italian restaurant in Charleston. I plugged that into the phone. As an afterthought, I wrote down the address to a Chinese restaurant as well.

I got to the Italian place, parked and found it was closed on Monday. Damn! I could almost taste the linguine and clams. So, I programmed the Chinese restaurant and went there. I pictured sitting there, sipping tea and eating a great meal.

The Chinese “restaurant” turned out to be a take-out place (much like the one next to my CVS). They did have two tables, but the confusion with people coming and going and the staff yelling back and forth was not exactly what I had planned. So, I got a sesame chicken dinner, with pork-fried rice and an egg roll to go.

Back at the hotel, I ate my dinner. Despite the loss of ambiance, it was excellent. I watched some TV, then switched to reading until bedtime.

I woke up exactly at 5:30 a.m. It was raining. I shaved, showered and got dressed. I packed everything up and went down at 6:30 to the breakfast buffet. I ate a lot, so I wouldn’t be hungry on the trip home. Unfortunately, I drank orange juice instead of coffee.

Then I checked out and headed out in the rain. It rained until about 10:00 a.m. This made my mandatory walks outside at the rest stops a bit daunting. The only upside was that the wipers finally cleared most of the bug guts off the windshield. I stopped at a McDonald's and got a cup of coffee. Then I headed home.

But first, two things I saw in Ohio. One was a billboard that read: “Now Hiring Psychics: You know where to apply!”

The other was the town of Waldo. I noticed it on the way down because, on the expressway, the sign just reads “Waldo” with an arrow. I thought, so that’s where Waldo is! And cracked up! This time I just smiled.

The rain had stopped, but the wind had picked up and the truck was buffeted at 70 mph.

I got home about 1:45 p.m. The house was still standing. Caley ran and hid when I unlocked the front door, but she came out when I shook the treat bag.

I unloaded the truck and unpacked. I had done a load of laundry at Jake and Carla’s so I just fluffed up the clean clothes in the dryer with a damp towel and dryer sheet.

Oddly enough, the garbage hadn’t been picked up yet. So, I bagged the kitty litter and stuck it in the trash can. I wheeled that out to the road, just before it got picked up.

I walked outside in the front yard. Still no daffodils, but the hyacinths were in full bloom. It was too windy to smell them, though. A good-sized branch had come down. It looks like it bounced off the gutter before landing in the patio.

In the backyard, I refilled the squirrel feeder. I checked the rat traps. Both were sprung. Both had no cheese and both had no dead rats. Rats!!!

I went inside and took a nice nap.

It was after 6:30 p.m., so I missed the local weather. I cooked a chicken pot pie for dinner. NCIS was a rerun, so I watched the taped episode of the Viking on the History Channel. Oh, no! There’s only two episodes left!

I turned the TV off and turned to reading. Then I turned off the light and turned in for the night.