alarm goes off (deaf cats are like deaf people - the deafer they get the louder they talk... plus we have a cat who feels the need to relate how every morsel of his "Dad's Gourmet Cat Food" tasted.) At any rate, we were up dressed, breakfasted, showered (not necessarily in that order but at that time of morning who knows for sure?), last minute furnace repair, Rambo started (amazing!) and made it out of the garage, the truck unstuck from where it had frozen in the driveway and put in the garage. At 5:30 (A.M.!) we're ready to go. I think even the road crew who were doing their early morning snow plowing and sanding were amazed. We must admit it was rather touch and go whether or not Rambo would actually make it up our little road (even the road crew waited at the top of the road to see if we made it) but finally all cylinders clicked in and we were off.On to points south. The roads were clear. Once it got light enough to see (Pennsylvania by that time) the surrounding area looked beautiful with snow. Then, further south, ice on trees. And further south SUN, SUN, SUN!!! We stopped for lunch in Martinsburg, WV, a lovely little city. We had obviously arrived in the south where fried catfish, green beans with ham & onions & even lima beans appear on your plate. Next trip to NC I'd like to stay a night here (my butt seems to think a 15 hour drive is too much to do in a day). Martinsburg has lots of historic buildings including an old Methodist church (now used as an office building) built in the 1700's without a bell tower. Turned out they didn't believe in the noise bells made so used a bull horn instead to call folks to workship. (Any suggestions on what exactly they might have called? The brochure didn't say.)
Driving on, Rambo was happier by the moment and rolled over 250,000 miles. Just as we were within 40 miles of where we take the interstate south the sign that says "If the yellow lights are flashing, tune to 1620 am" was doing just that - flashing. Now the thing about Rambo's radio is that the dial doesn't light so it's impossible to tell what frequency you're on not to mention it doesn't get very good reception (and in this case 1620 was not to be found). The emergency windup radio was way out of reach somewhere in the back. And the new little MP3 player we recorded books on to listen to on the the trip that also has a radio has gone "missing" (don't ask). Soooooo... 10 miles later we run into miles of bumper to bumper traffic almost stopped. Luckily we were at a exit which we quick took. Hauling out the map and consulting with Miss Garmin (our GPS unit) we headed across country to pick up the interstate further south. It was a beautiful little (as in LITTLE) road, very windy (as in WINDY - hairpin turns etc), and up (as in UP), up, up. The way Rambo had been packed (as in hurriedly) things were very secure on the smooth interstate. However, on this road a lot of items (which will go unnamed), decided to relocate themselves - some multiple times. (John has already spent time this morning picking up bits of broken glass and putting things back into more secure locations.)
But, finally we got to George & Vicki's who welcomed us with open arms and martini's. Only rain predicted for today for points south. Atlanta here we come!
