We left the house at 8 am....much earlier then we ever begin our trips. I don't know how, but we seemed to have paced the cleaning and packing better this year and have had fewer 'testy' moments to deal with--and most of those were due to the 90 degree temperatures of the last two days.
As we drive, I am having to use a new mapping program: DeLorme Street Atlas. It seems like it will be a good one, but the learning curve for me for directional programs is always steep; it should be a challenge.
Our first stop is to Barbie & Brook's lake house on Keukla Lake in the Finger Lakes area of New York State. We won't get there until about 7 or 8 pm tonight and will leave there on Monday morning.
Hope the weather is good tomorrow!
Monty is being very good. He is sleeping most of the time in the back of the cab of our truck. He has no idea what he's in for! The trip to Montana and back is more then 5,400 miles and that's without any side trips!
This will be our first summer trip without Buddy....and with our puppy, Monty. Buddy died in December and Monty is now 6 months old. Somehow I don't remember this type of puppy stage for Buddy. Monty is a rascal! He's exuberant and playful. And where I always remember Buddy being a 'good boy' I have not been able to believe that yet with Monty.
We packed all the dog things necessary for our trip. However, we didn't include the kennel. That was a source of disagreement between Ed & I! Monty has only been left alone (or slept overnight) without the kennel a couple of times. And each time, it's been a disaster. He either wakes at 5 am with big wet kisses to your face or you come home from an evening out to a disaster, i.e. anything that could be ripped is ripped. Anything that should not be eaten is eaten. I am very much against camping without the crate. I lose. Well, not really. Actually, Ed loses cause he's going to have to clean up the messes Monty makes.
Ed says 'he has to learn' or 'we have to teach him' and I say 'He's a puppy...he's too young to be without the kennel!" We shall see.
The trip to Barbies' should take 8 hours. When we factor in all the stops we need to take to bring Monty out for breaks and walk me around so I don't get blood clots this time, it's probably going to be 10 hours. The best amount of time for Ed and I to drive in one day is 6 hours...so even day 1 could be a challenge!
The traveling goes along pretty uneventfully. We are right on schedule. We even stop for dinner at a nice restaurant in Geneva, NY The Torrey Park Grill and arrive at the Lake House close to sunset. The temperature is much more reasonable here....around the 75 degree mark instead of the sweltering 90's we had on Cape Cod the last few days.
We park the camper (it takes a lot more space in their driveway now that we have the Tundra instead of the Highlander) and take out the bare minimum of things from the truck. Ed pulls out his fishing rod for him and a ball for Monty to play with.
All is right with the world on our first day of our Summer 2012 adventure.
