Tripping

Despite running into road construction almost every ten miles, we enjoyed the trip to Maryland. We went through the mountains and took our time, enjoying the scenery. We even made a few side stops.

 

We spent a good part of Sunday driving through the Allegheny mountains. I can’t begin to describe how deliciously cool the mountain air felt as we drove the USS Dodge Ram with the sun roof open and the windows down. 

 

You really feel close to God you drive through such beautiful scenery.

 

We spent Sunday night at a Hampton Inn in Front Royal Virginia. Front Royal had quite a bit of action during the Civil War. It was also the place where some of Mosby’s men were captured and seven of them hung. What horrified me was that after the men were hung, the townspeople took chunks of wood from the tree they were hung from, as a souvenir. What a morbid thing to do. When we went through the Confederate museum in Front Royal, we saw several of these chunks of display. And yes, I can definitely tell you there was paranormal activity in that museum. Everywhere I looked I saw the transparent faces of battle weary men staring back at me in that museum. I try not to tell the hubster when I see spirits because I think it freaks him out. But that’s another story for another time.

 

On Monday our relaxing trip took on a more stressful aspect as we encountered bad weather and heavy traffic. The day started out peaceful enough. We spent the majority of it tromping around the battlefield at Manassas VA. It was a cloudy day, but the rain seemed to be holding off. That is until we got out in the middle of the battlefield, with no tree's around, no shelter, no umbrella, no nothing. Then the skies opened up and boy howdy did it pour…and pour…and pour. There was nothing to do but walk in the torrential rains toward the visitor center—which was half a mile away according to our drenched map.

 

I took our blow dryer in the visitor center and did my best to dry is off with it, but we were pretty much beyond repair at that point. And when the busload of 50 teenage girls arrived and all started pouring into the bathroom, we knew it was time to leave. After a full day at the battlefield we headed to DC and to the part of the trip I dreaded. FedEx Field in Landover Maryland, home of the Redskins—namely to the fan store at FedEx Field. 45 minutes and $100 later we were back on the DC beltway in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic. Eventually we exited off the Beltway and made our way down Route 50 in Annapolis and along St Margaret’s road to Cantler’s Seafood. Nom, nom, nom!

 

At Cantler’s we stuffed ourselves with some of the finest and freshest softshell crabs you’ll ever eat. Add in the corn on the cob, shrimp, scallops and rockfish and our pie holes were working overtime. Stuffed, we left for the last leg of our journey that day and crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge into Maryland’s Eastern Shore aka home.

 

Originally from the lower shore of MD, we were headed to Ocean Pines MD and the hubster’s mothers house, where we’d be spending the rest of the week. She lives two miles from the Atlantic ocean and resort traffic can be a bear, so we didn’t reach her house until 10pm. A long day to be sure. But now we were ready for a week of fun at the shore!

 

Rest in Peace

My husbands SUV is our sturdy trip mobile. The USS Pathfinder. He doesn't like my mini van and prefers to drive his manly SUV on all of our trips. That's fine by me, because its an extremely comfortable SUV. When we were in Alabama during spring break, it acted funny one afternoon. It was acting exactly like my first car did all those years ago, when the transmission went out on it. After the SUV rested for a day it seemed to be fine. Sunday afternoon, on the way home from Cincinnati, it did it again. Fortunately we were less than a block from home. But this time it's still acting wonky (a technical term). We're afraid it's death is near. We've had the SUV since 2005, so it's paid off. But we've been enjoying spending the money we would have spent on a car payment. I fear our good times are over. The hubster is going to make a last ditch effort by having the transmission flushed this weekend, but I think he's throwing money into the wind.

Another reason he doesn't want to get rid of the SUV, other than not having a car payment, is that our dog (who died March 2008) loved that vehicle.  He loved it so much that he's still in there! Hard to believe, but whenever I take a picture of the SUV at night, he shows up in the picture. We've tried to get Moose to pass over into the light, but so far he hasn't. A Medium told me that I need to ask a friend or relative who has passed over to come and get Moose and help him go into the light. I know I need to do that. Its hard though. We've missed that dog so much that I think it became a comfort when he (and his friends) started showing up in the SUV.

(See the two dogs in the middle seat? The beagle lived next door to us and passed a few months after our Moose did. It would seem that they are joined in the afterlife. We don't know who the dog in the far back is.)

But still, you can't live your life around the spirit of your deceased pet. The SUV has to go sometime.