“I said Chattanooga is a fine old town, sugar babe”*
Posted on October 8, 2006 - Filed Under Uncategorized
*Chattanooga Sugarbabe by the one and only Johnny Cash. We don’t have the motivation or the time to confirm what Mr. Cash said, but because it’s him, we’ll believe it.
We began our journey this morning at 7:30. Yes, we were going to start yesterday morning but I failed to eliminate enough of my stuff; therefore, when I got to FL Friday night, it became evident almost immediately that we were going to need to step back and repack. So, we’re a day behind; that said, it turned out to be a good thing, for me at least. I have had a long week, worrying over passing my last practice teaching lesson and the final test (I didn’t have a good reason to be worried; rather, I was nervous in the way anyone is when doing something critical to the next step in a process). Taking yesterday ‘off’ was kind of refreshing.
Anyhow, like I said, we started out at 7:30 this morning. We wanted to be on the road by 6:00, but we are us and that usually means being on time doesn’t happen. Maggie was pretty great all day, alot better than she has been on the road in the recent past. She really didn’t fuss until the end of the trip. We accomplished our plan of reaching Chattanooga, TN, a total distance of 500+ miles. It was supposed to take about eight hours; it took us ten. Most people who have a young one will tell you that they slow you down on the road. When it’s just Erin and I, we usually average about 60 mph, including bathroom and food breaks. With Maggie now in tow, we’re down to somewhere around 50. Wilson doesn’t really take a toll on our time because he only needs watered and let out to pee about every three or so hours. Maggie, on the other hand, needs fed, changed, played with, and consoled. I just hope she continues to behave this well on the rest of the trip.
We had to make an adjustment in our pet load. Abbey is a complete spazz when it comes to getting her into the carrier for travel. I mean, it’s seriously out of control. Given the fact that we were going to have to load her into the carrier seven times, Erin had the really good idea of leaving at her parents’ place until we go there for the winter holiday. We’ll bring her back on the plane. For her part, Charley is relatively easy to travel with. Nevertheless, Erin thought it best to get some sedatives for her. We gave her one this morning; it turned out to be much too powerful. It completely knocked her down. The poor thing was so different than she normally is but she made it okay in the end.
The way we have it mapped out, today is going to be the longest day. Tomorrow, we drive to just outside of St. Louis. I was hoping to find some good bar-b-que here tonight but we were too tired to look for it and the woman at the front desk is apparently stuck on stupid because she couldn’t refer me anywhere. Tomorrow, though, I am not going to give in: we are going to have real St. Louis ribs. With this kind of traveling, you have to have something to look forward to each day, something a little more fun than just arriving at your planned destination at the end of the day.
Don’t look for any pictures from today’s leg; sadly, there really wasn’t anything worth taking a picture of. Also, we were concentrating on getting on the road and not thinking about photographic documentation. Tomorrow, we’ll start to carry the camera in the front of the truck so that, if by chance we see something cool, we can snap a photo.
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glad to hear that today went well… you should really enjoy st. louis for the “moments in time” that you are there, it was really nice from what i could tell when i drove through. enjoy the nice weather cause when you get here its going to be cold!! starting to get an early snow, it was sleeting earlier tonight…
i am glad to hear you made it to tennesee now onto missouri i hope you find some good ribs there i talked to jessica this morning she cannot wait to see maggie and you guys too have a nice visit together and as you continue on your journey remember you are in our thoughts and prayers we love so much i cannot put it words how much take care and be careful till we talk love always mom hugs and to maggie from grandma and pappy