The End is in Sight

We both slept hard last night but did not want to get back in the car this morning.  It was a long day in the car yesterday and it was hard to think about doing it again.  We did find out however that the Cincinnati airport really is in Kentucky!  Go figure?  We have been so lucky with the weather and it was another beautiful day.  We had another 400 miles to drive to reach Debbie's house and we wanted to get home.  The drive today went much better and was more direct but just as long.  Her GPS works off a satellite Carol so hers isn't supposed to require updates.  Yesterday was the only time we have ever had that problem with it but it was one day too many.   We stopped outside of Nashville to pick up some things for dinner as well as a birthday cake for Debbie's husband.  Today is Andy's birthday.  With the time change to central time we arrived at her house at 4:30 this afternoon and were so happy to be out of the car!  I fly back to Atlanta on Tuesday morning so have another day to visit with Debbie and her critters before heading back to reality again.  I will try to get some pictures of Debbie's critters tomorrow.

 I am looking forward to getting home and seeing the kids and grandkids.  Hey Lil P, yes you would like Chocolate World a lot and maybe we can go there someday.  They also have an amusement park called Hershey Park there like Six Flags.  I'm glad everyone enjoyed the photos as I enjoy taking them.  I used to think it was the internet everywhere we have been trying to load photos on the blog but I have figured out as has Ms. Kay that I believe that it is Blogger that has the issues.  It is very frustrating when you are tired and trying to post things and it takes what seems like forever to do it.  At least in the hotels it is free but on the ship the internet is very expensive so I need to work on finding a better way to do this before we make our next trip.  Thanks for following and I will post a synopsis and some pictures that I was unable to upload when I get home.

We thought this was funny

We gave up on going to Indiana

I wanted to sing this for Debbie but didn't know the words..

Bowling Green, KY is Corvette country

YES!!! We are almost home!

Nashville in distance

Cotton fields ready for harvest near Debbie's house

Miles of it!

Pretty ranch along the way

We're home..yippee!

Endless Circles

I coughed all night last night so didn't sleep well.  We had breakfast and packed up everything and set out to Shanksville to see the Flight 93 Memorial.  We were doing well until Bitchin Betty told us to get off at this exit and it went downhill after that.  We did eventually find it but it took us 2 hours to essentially go 43 miles from where we spent the night!  I have to say I was glad we went as it is a very emotional but beautiful and peaceful place as well.  I was surprised at the number of people who were there and it was a steady stream of people the entire time we were there.  The rock in the photo with the flowers is where the plane impacted and that area is reserved for family members only.  As you can see fall was happening in Pennsylvania today and it was beautiful..  All these photos were taken in and around the site.

After leaving there for numerous reasons it took us another 3 hours to go 150 miles and the weather was windy, colder and rained off and on.  We thought we were going to be stuck in Pennsylvania forever as it seemed we would never get out. It was the most beautiful state with gorgeous farms and the changing trees in the Allegheny Mountains.  We got off to get gas and again Betty sent us on a route that took us way out of the way.  We obviously were supposed to see these things because we saw a sign for a "Florist/Dog Grooming Service", then a sign for "Fresh Tomato/Bait Shop", the some strange animal we think was a Punxsutawney Phil sitting on the side of the road, then a dance studio with a ballerina painted on the side of the barn which housed the studio then we went through a place called "Normalville".  Really?  Then we saw some cute spiders made out of bigs rolls of hay but we passed them so fast I didn't get a picture and we were determined to press on.  Once we got into Ohio it was flat and uncolorful but did see what appeared to be a llama or alpaca just standing on the side of I-71..we think he was lost.  We changed our reservations for the night from Indiana and stopped in Cincinnati because at that point we had been in the car for 11 hours and would have had another 160 miles to go to where we intended to stop. This hotel is actually in Hebron, Kentucky but we are near the Cincinnati airport..go figure.  We passed the Reds stadium and the game was just letting out Carol..I have no idea who they played.  We checked in and ordered wings and Debbie is zoning after driving all day and I am going to finish this and get to bed too.  We are going to be back at her house tomorrow.

Hugs and Kisses

It's hard to remember what we did since I last posted but Debbie and I read all the comments last night after we had cleaned up and packed..  The last couple days were a whirlwind of doing things for mom or taking her to appointments to get as much done as we could to help out my sister and her husband for a while anyway.  We did her grocery shopping, took her to get her hair cut and styled, to lunch, bought her a new flat screen TV thinking it would help her be able to see TV (it didn't) her eyes are really failing but she can hear it better so it wasn't a total waste and the antibiotic she has been taking seems to be working and she was much improved from when we first arrived.  I left knowing she seemingly was getting better.  Debbie and I took a last walk on the beach and got up this morning and headed for the Amish Farmer's Market in PA again as she wanted to get some things to take back home.  We bought so much stuff Gnomey was having trouble finding a place to sit in the back seat.   Our next stop was Centerport to see the "Fork in the Road".    You will notice the knife and spoon were attached to a building across the street.  We had the best time laughing about that and taking photos and since we were so close to Shoemakersville (Shoey) where my uncle George used to live we decided to go and see if we could find his house which we did also.  After that we drove to Hamburg, PA to see if we could find the cemetery where he is buried.  I didn't get to go to his funeral last year as he died the day Debbie and I got back to GA on our road trip last year.  His friend Anna had given me some technical information in an email to tell me the cemetery and lot, etc. but I couldn't reach her or the people at the church so when we got to Hamburg we stopped at a flower shop and asked and the lady was do kind and explained where it was and told us where the caretaker was so I bought a bouquet and Debbie said we would find it...and we did!  Can you imagine in a whole cemetery she went one way walking and I the other and Debbie found it!  We left the bouquet and it made me feel good that we were able to find it. We got back in the car and headed to Bedford, PA which was our stopover place for today and we got diverted again when we saw a sign to Hershey, PA...how could we be this close and not go?  So we doubled back because we had already passed the exits and drove through some beautiful little towns and had a fun stop.  I couldn't get a good shot but even the water tower there is in the shape of a Hershey Kiss!  What a cute, happy place.  We had another two hours to drive so it was dark by the time we arrived here at the Hampton Inn.  We unloaded the car and ordered pizza and opened a bottle of wine.  While I was writing the blog Debbie was frantically searching for her iPad camera adapter which she later found in her suitcase (I told her to look there BTW).  We are both exhausted but had a great day and look forward to another fun day tomorrow.  Carol, we may try a casino in Indiana on the way home tomorrow night.  Teresa, really there is a dog wash?  I miss the kids and hate not knowing what is going on with them.  Ms Kay, I am honored that you found A Trip to NJ so interesting.  When is our next cruise?  Dave, hope you had a safe trip to NC and you can rest easy now that you have seen the fork in the road.  Notice the first photos is Debbie enjoying donating to the NJ economy at the toll both going to Atlantic City our last time there.  The last photo is a cool picture of the sky on our way to the hotel tonight.

Angry Seas

Yesterday we took mom to her doctor appointment then took her to lunch, picked up her RX and took her home.  Debbie and I went to the Golden Nugget for the afternoon after numerous wrong turns (unusual for us).  We didn't do well there so Atlantic City has gotten the last of our funds for this trip.  Somehow we got turned around coming home too but only a few blocks before we realized the error of our ways.  It got very chilly very fast last night and neither of us were feeling very chipper.

We were both coughing when we got up this morning..we alternate sleeping on the sofa bed and Debbie was on it last night.  We both had some work to do this morning and after getting the necessary things done we left with our trusty shopping list to head to Walmart.  It had rained some last night but not since we have been up today but the wind is brutal.  It was blowing the car all over the place and apparently there is a tornado watch for the area which is unusual for here so all the Walmart employees were freaked out.  Since it is National Cheeseburger Day we had lunch at 5 Guys and I mom said to bring her one so we did.  She had company when we got there so we met her friends and headed home to try to make it before the storm hits.  We drove to the boardwalk to go look at the ocean today and it was looking very angry.  The pictures do not convey how ominous it was out there and the wind is unbelievable.  You can see the spray from the ocean in the picture I took looking down the boardwalk and then when we got to our turn to the parking area of the condo there was the big trash can from across the street at the Ocean Drive had blown into the middle of Landis which is the main street through town.  By the time we parked the police had blocked traffic and moved it then we saw him use his hand sanitizer...smart guy!  Debbie is at the beauty shop at the corner getting her hair cut and I just finished getting my office work done and though I would catch you up.  More later if we keep power!