- 2:05pm Lawrence, KS
- Leave home, car is packed, TeddyBear has a pillow and blanket set up in the back seat
- 3:05pm Blue Springs, MO
- Gas for the car at $2.23 a gallon
- 7:22pm Highland, IL
- Searched around for a place to have dinner that accommodated the dog and Star's desire to get out of the car. Turns out Hardees had outdoor patio tables, and Diet Coke with Splenda available
- 11:20pm Elletsville, IN
- Mostly uneventful drive to Terre Haute Indiana where we turn off of I-70 to head down 46 to Bloomington. About half way there we get detoured to a windy 35mph road which adds some delays. Stopped to get gas at $2.39 a gallon, an upward trend we will see as we continue East, luckily we are getting about 31 mpg. We pass a real round-a-bout with the same signs we got used to in England. Took lots of effort to not drive around to the left.
- 11:50pm Bloomington, IN
- Arrived too late to see Anmar and probally kept
![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
Theryn up too late
(Eddie had
already gone to sleep but I did see him for a bit before he headed off to work in the morning.
Their dog Mable and ours Teddy Bear pretty much stayed in separate rooms for the evening.
- 9:11am Bloomington, IN
- Stopped and got some fresh ice for the coolers and hit I-37 north out of town
- 12:05pm Indianapolis, IN
- Lunch with Andy and Karen. Teddy found the local Three Dog Bakery and had a treat of his own. Was great to see Andy and Karen again and as always we had long conversations and tried to understand the universe a bit more.
- 1:48pm Entering Ohio
- Pooch did his first driving section of the trip from rest stop to rest stop
- 2:52pm Summerford, OH
- Star starts driving again and shortly after that we get passed by 4 red corvettes from Kansas, anyone have any theories about that one?
- 6:33pm Lodi, Ohio
- Realized we had lost an hour while at a rest stop for a picnic lunch. We made friends with a feral cat who ended up with the last of the chicken from dinner. Only on the road for a few minutes and the highway turned into a parking lot. We escaped the highway and created our own detour thru Lodi and Medine where we drove pas the Ohio State 'Coon Hunting Association headquarters.
- 9:30pm Entering Pennsylvania
- After a quick fillup stop in Mentor, OH ($2.39/gal) we made it into Pennsylvania but were only there for 50 miles before we crossed over into New York
- 11:55pm Arrive at Jolene and Lana's in Buffalo, NY
- Planner had said this was a 552 mile day but somehow we added another 123 miles onto it. Had a problem with the Rand McNally directions that had the exit number right but the name of the exit wrong, but we went with the exit number and were fine after a bit of panic.
- Buffalo, NY
- Lazy
morning while we waited for a new side door to be installed, then the adults left for a winery tour leaving the girls and dogs at home to
watch DVD's. Teddy played escape artist and got away and started running, the girls called us back to the house and we spent about 3
hours tracking the nieghborhood, sometimes hearing a "he went past here that way 20 minutes ago". We had given up hope but were still
searching, a strange town where he knows nothing and had no idea of where to go. At last sighting he was in the park and someone had
put him into a blue van. We hoped that it was either animal control or someone that was going to take him home and call us. (His tags have the
800 number for the chip company and his chip number, and his rabies tag has our vets number on it.) We posted missing signs around the park,
called everyone we could think of (chip company, vet, spca, police) and had pretty much given up until morning.
- A few hours later my cell phone rang and my heart leaped. It was the night answering service for our vets saying they had a woman on the line with our dog and connected us. The woman said our dog was fine but her husband (FBI Terrorist agent) had been bitten, wanted to know if the rabies were current, and gave me his number. I called him, he told me of a chase along the 190 thruway and Teddy getting cornered under his truck. He grabbed him to get him out and got bit. I assured him the shots were current, and had the travel papers with the dates and shot type. He had the rabies tag (had taken to the hospital) and would return it tomorrow, and that another person who had stopped had the dog and gave me their number. We called and they were only 3 blocks from where we were. We went over and Teddy was under their porch and so scared he didn't even recognize us. Pooch climbed under the porch and got him out. Teddy's paws were rubbed raw. The rescue guy said he and his family had been eating in a local drive thru and saw Teddy run up the entranace ramp for the highway, they took chase. Traffic pushed them past him once and they had to exit and double back. He got out and was trying to slow down traffic and a semi pulled across to stop the traffic. There was a federal agent who put his lights on and got out to help and they got Teddy trapped under the agents car. They got him out, the agent got bit and the rescue guy got dumped on, but his wife wrapped teddy up and they took him home. They had been calling around for vets when we called.
- We then took teddy to the emergency vet (who was busy that night with a cat with a pregnency complication, a dog hit by a car and a goose with a broken leg) who attended to Teddy, bandaged up his paws, and gave him a pain killer. He had more pain killers for the next 5 days and antibiotics for 7 days. His paws were all bandaged in blue gauze for three days. We were so so so glad to have him home.
Entrance Ramp Teddy with his blue paws Star and Pooch at Niagra Falls
(US Side)Candian Side with Rainbow - A few hours later my cell phone rang and my heart leaped. It was the night answering service for our vets saying they had a woman on the line with our dog and connected us. The woman said our dog was fine but her husband (FBI Terrorist agent) had been bitten, wanted to know if the rabies were current, and gave me his number. I called him, he told me of a chase along the 190 thruway and Teddy getting cornered under his truck. He grabbed him to get him out and got bit. I assured him the shots were current, and had the travel papers with the dates and shot type. He had the rabies tag (had taken to the hospital) and would return it tomorrow, and that another person who had stopped had the dog and gave me their number. We called and they were only 3 blocks from where we were. We went over and Teddy was under their porch and so scared he didn't even recognize us. Pooch climbed under the porch and got him out. Teddy's paws were rubbed raw. The rescue guy said he and his family had been eating in a local drive thru and saw Teddy run up the entranace ramp for the highway, they took chase. Traffic pushed them past him once and they had to exit and double back. He got out and was trying to slow down traffic and a semi pulled across to stop the traffic. There was a federal agent who put his lights on and got out to help and they got Teddy trapped under the agents car. They got him out, the agent got bit and the rescue guy got dumped on, but his wife wrapped teddy up and they took him home. They had been calling around for vets when we called.
- Niagra Falls
- After Monday's adventure we decided to keep things simple. Lana, Pooch, TeddyBear, and myself drove out to Niagra Falls and walked around both the US and Canadian sides (well mostly we carried Teddy). Pooch saw there was a Hard Rock Niagra Falls so had to go in for his traditional B-52 shot and souveneir glass, and then had to repeat when we saw another Hard Rock Niagra on the Canadian side. The falls were beautiful and we even had a full rainbow visable from the Canadian side. We probably would have gone on the Maid of the Mist boat tour if we hadn't had the dog with us.
- 11:55a Buffalo, NY
- Drove across New York to get to Pooch's mom's place in Poughkeepsie.
- 2:20p Port Byron Service Area
- New York State Thruway (I-90/87) has a handout that lists what fast food is at each travel plaza so you can choose ahead. Gas was $2.41/gal - OUCH
- 4:54p Guilderland Service Area
- Dinner at Mr. Subb, they have picnic tables out front so Teddy could join us, and get lots of sympathy from people
- 10:00p Poughkeepsie NY
- Family had already started arriving. Burgers on the grill for dinner with Mom, Larry, Anna, Phoebe, and Karen.
- End of "Trip There"
- We keep track of states license plates we see. On the trip out we got 48 states, everything except Hawaii and New Mexico. We also got 5 Canadian provinces.
- Family gatherings, setting up tents, and running errands. Teddy got his bandaids off and his paws looked raw but were healing. Pizza dinner with addition of Aunt Josie, Jim, Aunt Loretta and Great-Aunt Mary. I took some time to head over to Vassar College to get web access.
- Tables covered, food prep started, more and more people arrived. Chinese takeout also added Cousins Christine, Alisha and Erik (who got married since we saw them last), and Anna's son Ken.
- Commitment Ceremony
- Larry and Freddie exchanged vows in their back yard with around 100 friends and family members. Pooch led the short ceremony and everyone had a great time with food, cake and beer.
- Another day visiting with family. We went out to Umberto's for dinner. We had a short Teddy escape after dinner, but he only got a block before we got home (others had gotten home before us). After that he was crated when one of us wasn't around.
- Cleanup Day. Took down the tents, returned bottles, tables turned back into doors.
- We were originally going to leave this morning but decided to take advantage of the fact that we drove and be flexible with our trip and spend some more time with Mom and Larry. All the other family members took off so there was a day of quiet.
- Hudson River, Kingston, NY
- Day of playing tourist and enjoying the Hudson River. Larry, Freddie, Pooch, and Star went to Kingston Point Park. Got to see a few of the launch points that Larry does windsurfing from. Had lunch at Acapulco Grill in the Rondout district.
- 10:49a Poughkeepsie, NY
- I'm working on getting over my fear of bridges but the Mid-Hudson Bridge took a few deep breaths to get over. We passed the "Ground Hog" Coffee and Motercycle shop in Wappinger Falls, what a name!
- 12:08p Point Jervis, PA
- We tried to find New Jersey but took the wrong exit and missed it. Supposedly gas is cheaper there, but we found it for $2.27 and that was good enough. We took I-84 across to Scranton then I-81 and then headed off the main road to take 118 across since we wanted a change.
- 2:41p Kitchen Creek Falls, PA
Took a hike around
for an hour to stretch our legs, part of Ricketts Glen State
Park, and joined back up with I-80 after Lock Haven
- 6:28p State College, PA
- Pooch had visited here when he was looking for a PhD program and this was choice #2 (Penn State). Star wanted to stop and see the "road not taken" and visit the place we might have been. We wandered along highway 322 back to I-80
- 8:10p Du Bois, PA
- Pooch drove for a while to give Star a break. He got to experience road work, detour, and driving at night.
- 9:30p Mile marker 42
- Rounding a corner Pooch encountered a car stopped on the highway. Turns out it was a little old lady with car problems, we got her flashers on and a flare set, and a trucker stopped to help push her car out of the road. Police were called and they sent a tow truck around and we left her in the care of the tower.
- 11:31p Youngstown, OH
- We were hoping to stay in Youngstown at the Microtel that had a $34.95 coupon in the book from the roadstop and was also in our "Travel with your pet" book, but they had a $35 dog fee so we drove around more and after getting gas at $2.25 we ended up at Liberty Inn in North Lima for only $45 but didn't get there till after midnight.
- 9:14a North Lima, OH
- Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and as Star was leaving a wonderful older man held the door and said "Not every day I get to hold the door for a beautiful young lady" What a way to start the day! Highway 173 across to 62
- 11:38 Canton, OH
- Pro Football Hall of Fame is Pooch's mecca of the trip. Star and TeddyBear hit a few garage sales and walk in the park to give Pooch a few hours at the Hall of Fame.
- 2:30p Mansfield, OH
- Highway 30 across most of Ohio to enjoy more off Freeway driving. Pooch took another hour or so driving from upper Sandusky to just past Lima (And yes, for those of you paying attention it took us five hours to get from North Lima to Lima.)
- 5:00p Wapakaneta, OH
- Missed the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum hours, but did get to wander around the grounds where they have a bunch of replicas out that you can crawl over. We then continued on Highway 29 into Indiana
- 6:10p Escape Ohio
- Took Hwy 67 to I-69 then Hwy 28 across Indiana stopping in Tipton, IN for dinner at Dairy Queen. Shortest Pit Stop Ever: we arrived at 7:03pm and left at 6:18pm (time change). Jumped down to I-74 via Hwy 231 and into Illinois and cheap gas - only $2.14
- 9:40p Urbana IL
- Visit with Holly and Peter and the god-kids in what is now Louis's house.
- 2:56p Urbana, IL
- Slow start cause we wanted to watch Lance Armstrong in the time trials and then had lunch at Miko's (our favorite place in Urbana)
- 7:19p Kingdom City, MO
- Dinner break, mostly uneventful drive. Pooch took an hour behind the wheel so Star could rest her eyes and we could get home.
- 11:00p Lawrence
- Home at last!
