Day 1 - Ottawa to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

We are actually on the road! It seems as though we have been talking about this trip forever....well, since Apr 07 when we bought the LuvMasheen....and it's finally happening. After a long, sleepless night (for me...thanks to the movie 28 Weeks), we pulled out of Rainbow Crescent at 9am--Odometer reading 120,320. Colin and Jen came over for the final instrustructions and goodbyes, and we were off!

Before crossing at the 1000 Islands, the LuvMasheen needed to be re-fueled...with Tim Horton's coffee...and then over the bridge we went. I've discovered why the line-ups are long at the American Border. Our inspector asked us where we were headed, and we'd already decided to tell them 'San Antonio' to make the process less complicated. When he heard that, he lost all interest in where we were born, how long we'd be in the States, how many dead bodies we had in the back, etc. He launched into his life story which included his previous military career (he was all of 32-35 yrs old) and his basic training at the army base close to San Antonio. It continued with every manoeuvre he'd been on in the area. After lots of backing-and-forthing of military stories, smiles, and more stories, he wanted to know if "y'all can stand up in that thang?" (referring to the LuvMasheen). Total time keeping cars waiting behind us=15 minutes and the official part took at least 30 seconds. A pleasant start to the trip for us if not the 20 cars behind us. We stopped seeing snow after Watertown and hoping that scenerio continues for the next 3 days...I mean 3 MONTHS!

When we stopped to change drivers, there were a couple of snowmen at the Rest Stop. I love this Korean one. I have this picture in my mind of a carload of Korean kids on a holiday just going nuts in the snow.

It's a 2-day trip on the Interstate I-85 until we swing west so not much to see...especially at this time of the year. Everything looks the colour of 'bark' and no leaves on the trees to hide some of the less attractive areas. It's mosting agricultural so lots of farms, barns, etc.

It doesn't matter what area of the US we visit, one thing is abundantly clear.....the Americans think they have solved the problem of the high cost of housing with house trailers. They are everywhere and there's not much attempt to make them looks like regular houses, if that's possible anyway. They have cornered the market on these tin cans (remember the acres of unused trailers after Hurricane Katrina?) and they can be farm houses, housing developments (kinda-sorta), and my personal favourite--a trailer on an acre of land with a travel trailer next to it. I can see the potential for a coffee table book here!

We pulled in to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania shortly after 4 pm and Wayne exercised the coupon he found at an info booth which resulted in a lovely room at the Econo Lodge for $52 (breakfast buffet included). It's an early night and an early start in the morning.

I'm Getting Nervous!!

There are only 9 days left until the LuvMasheen pulls out for points South. The question is....are we going to get out of Ottawa?

For the past 5 or 6 years, I've been a real smart-ass about not missing the mountains of snow I remember from my Ottawa childhood. I have photos of Wayne's Mom walking the dog on past Christmas Days, sun shining and not a flake of snow in sight. After that awful winter of 1980, when we bought the whole family X-Country skiis and it turned out to be the first green Xmas in local memory, weather has not been a major Xmas issue.....until this year!

Our dream has always been to buy a small RV and spend the winter sitting on a beach somewhere in the very deep South, driving our family & friends crazy with e-mails about the margueritas and tans we are experiencing. We just didn't think about the potential of having mountains and mountains of snow that might become an issue in driving to that destination.

I hear there are 2 days of rain in the forecast, which may eliminate the volume of snow, and as long as 'flooding' or 'freezing' doesn't become the next weather issue, rain is welcomed. I know that the first few days on the road will be a tad nerve-wracking (for me) but at some point the snow will disappear, the sun will come out, the we will officially become 'Snow-Birds'.

Lots of info to follow--hopefully all related to Margueritas and tans.