Bradford in CT

Bradford was here last week and it was absolutely heaven! We had so much fun together -- just one on one. We rode scooters, went to the beach, went to Yale, the Thimble Islands, Harvard and Boston....plus threw in a cruise on the sound and lunch at the yacht club courtesy of Bet and Gene. We even managed to get some missionary shopping done in between outings. It was nice to spend the time before he.... (sniff, sniff) leaves for Oklahoma. Thanks for coming Bud!

Mowing with Official Hat

I imagine it must seem like life in the country is fairly simple...if this is my second blog about the mowing the lawn....yet it really is an event. I did it in a fraction of the time this time and we had to document it with my new PINK John Deere hat sent so thoughtfully from the Hetrick's. Thanks!

Connecticut Lawn Mowing

Well, mowed the lawn for the first time on Wednesday...with the John Deere! My goodness....three hours later and I still wasn't finished! (Did get interrupted once for the repairman...) Tomorrow I'll finish one little hill and mow with the regular mower around some stuff I couldn't get around...and then weed whacking! Then all over again next Wednesday. It's kinda like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. But, I enjoyed it -- it was something new. Need to get a John Deere hat and overalls.... ;)

We're here!

We finally arrived in CT on Monday evening around 7 pm. The last day's drive was stunning. I-80 through PA is incredibly beautiful. Up and down and trees everywhere you look. Long bridges over deep gorges. It didn't seem like there was anyone around for miles. (The blurry picture here is one I took out the window while I was driving...not very safe, but wanted you to see what we were seeing!) We came across a couple of elevation signs that said stuff like, "highest elevation east of the Mississippi --- 1200 ft". I radioed Chip to ask if he had seen the sign -- and I laughed a little. He told me I was an elevation snob. We sailed across the lower tip of New York (I asked Chip if he wanted to top off our 1/2 full tanks in NY and he said we were about there -- I said, but we need to go across ALL of New York! It took all of about an hour...the states are smaller in the east...at least that part of New York). We wound through CT and finally arrived at Chip's mother's home. She was VERY happy to see us. Got up early the next morning for our final walk-through of the house (after all, we'd only seen it for about 20 minutes last May...) then went into New Haven for our closing and rushed back to meet the truck at the house at 10. Glen, our Jamaican driver said, "We have a problem...I cannot back into da driveway -- it's too sharp a turn so we will need to rent a shuttle truck to take your things down. ". (to the tune of $1200 and making us wait a day longer). Now, our driveway is pretty long -- it could be 100 yards, and it is hot and humid here. But really, another truck? I said, guys, work with me. We'll help. I don't think we need a truck. Let's put all the little things in the back of my car and you can walk the big stuff up. They finally agreed and I spent about 8 hours running my car forward and back down the driveway. We finished earlier than they had anticipated and everyone was happy. We've unpacked for two days and it's beginning to look like our house. It needs an entire paint job inside -- I call it the house of many colors. There's gotta be about 10 different paint colors here. Bear went for his first swim today in the pool...accidentally. It was his first time near the pool and he was sniffing -- (the lightweight cover was on) and he put his foot on the cover and SPLASH! If dogs can look surprised, he certainly did. Love you all...thanks for your calls and support.

Our Third Day

We were lucky today to wait for 45 minutes in the toll road lane to pay our $7.75. We could listen to our books and our iPods and glance around to see everyone else who was on I-80! (I'm trying on the Rose Marie Walls persona from the book I was listening to...she also saw the benefits of popcorn for dinner...) It was a more trying day....but we made it to Cuyahoaga Falls, OH and it really is charming and beautiful. Chip and I are busy discussing "The Fountainhead" (I'm reading it and he is listening to it...lucky!) We had a lovely dinner tonight overlooking the falls and were introduced to a young man who will be running in the 2024 presidential election (he was our waiter, a political science major at Kent State, told him that he has his work cut out for him running against James...) We are safe and sound and on our way to Madison tomorrow. Love you all.

Day Two towards Connecticut

Today we traveled across the rest of Nebraska and through Iowa. Bear started his day with breakfast in bed.... only in a hotel room! We started our day with a huge crash on 1-80 (not us!) -- about 90 minutes into the drive. Three semi's! All of the trailers were completely trashed. Good thing we had stopped for a bathroom break...who knows where we would have been at the time of the crash! That delayed us about 45 minutes. But we had our audio books so we were just chillin'! Iowa was stunningly beautiful. Rolling green hills with white barns and silver silos. The rows and rows of corn were almost peaceful. We pulled off the freeway around 7:30 to catch some pictures in 'sweet light'. We rounded a bend after we had returned to I-80, came down a hill and thought, "What a beautiful river!". We started across the bridge and there was a nice little green sign on the right: "Mississippi River". There you go. We are safely in East Moline, Illinois and will continue on through Illinois and Ohio tomorrow. Love to all of you!

Our First Day on the Road

Well, here we are in North Platte, Nebraska. First of all, thank you to EVERYONE who has been so thoughtful and helpful as we are making this transition. I think you know how hard this has been for both Chip and myself, yet we are both convinced it is the right thing to do...so thank you for your love and support.
Started out around 7:30 this morning. Highlights: Said goodbye to Park City and the hot air balloons. Stopped in Elk Meadow, WY for a bathroom break...black magic marker sign scrawled over the sink in the restroom... "don't drink the water". Oh, man. Then a killer downpour about an hour west of Cheyenne -- couldn't see a thing. Had lunch in Cheyenne, and then meandered (well not really -- it's pretty much a straight shot...) on to Nebraska. And, here we are at the luxurious Quality Inn -- along with bikers and other unique specimen of mankind. Enjoy the photos...and we'll see you tomorrow! (PS...Bear is behaving famously!)