The Great Summer Road Trip of 2013.....Day One

The time finally arrived for the big adventure of 2013 to take place--our Summer Road Trip.

Hubs sister was finally remarrying in August so since none of the rest of her siblings/family were going to go to Illinois to see her tie the knot(again), we decided we would go.
And since we were going all the way across a third of the US for this grand event, we figured Hubs might as well take some of all that vacation time he has saved up for the year, and make this a vacation.

I put out a call to friends and family, letting them know where we were headed and said we'd like to see/visit with anyone who could stand to have us around if we could work it in.  Nothing was planned ahead at this point, except for being at the wedding, so we just let the adventure grow organically from there.

By the week before we left, all the plans/stops were firmed up.
We headed out the morning of August 13th.
It was a Tuesday.

We rented a car for this trip.  Since we were traveling so many miles and my minivan is elderly(getting where it needs work and doesn't get the greatest gas mileage), it made sense not to pile those miles up on the Mango-mobile(named after my dead Chihuahua), but to spend the cash and let Enterprise's car take the hit.
We got this mid-sized beauty for the ride.
Here is Hubs posing during our first rest stop with the Adventure-mobile.....

Another shot of Hubs at the rest stop area......

It was roomy enough for us plus had quite a bit of trunk and backseat room(which we tried out best to fill up with crap by the time we left to return home).
It even had XM Radio which was great and meant we didn't have to keep finding local station signals every hundred miles or so, amidst the static.

We were cruising along that first day, west on I-80 making our escape from Pennsyltucky, when we came upon a State Police detour.  Seems a massive accident on 80 had closed down a stretch of it totally, shortly before we got to that point, so we had to detour through beautiful downtown Brockway....population about 2,000.

You may have seen the little video I posted back during the trip when we were stuck in the traffic jam leading into Brockway.  It's a tiny little one stop light town(not even a town, a borough)with a single 2 lane main street.

 

Once we got to the main street, we hung a left onto Rte. 28 and headed through beautiful downtown Brockway.  About a 1/4 mile past the BI-LO grocery store and the middle of town I spotted this beauty of a house for sale.  It would make a sweet place to retire to, don't you think?

I looked it up online once we got to the hotel that night and I believe it was listed for under $100K.
You could walk or bike from there to the grocery store, the Dollar General or even Mickey D's for that matter.

Once we got out of Brockway, it was a hilly windy ride on country roads back to the Interstate.
I noticed some old farm houses we passed and from the clothes hung on the clotheslines and the lack of power lines around,  I could tell there was a community of Amish or Old Order Mennonite in this area.
And then we passed a gravel lane and I got off this shot.....

Yep, an Amish community of some size is located here.

Then we saw this......

and I started asking Hubs to stop so I could do a little tombstone picture taking for F.A.G.
But we had already lost so much time on the detour and it was the first day so Hubs didn't stop.

Then we hit this.....

Ah yes, the joys of road construction in PA.
It never ends.....but luckily this patch was not so large and didn't hold us up much.
And you will notice that we are STILL behind that 18 wheeler truck for the entirety of this detour.

Finally back to I-80.
Then a stop for a late-ish lunch at Pizza Hut outside the town were Daughter went to college her first year, Clarion.

Then back on I-80 into Ohio and finally we arrived at our hotel for the night, in Milan, OH.
Milan OH....birthplace of Thomas Edison.
Bet you didn't know that!
And neither did I until we arrived there and I saw directional signs to his birthplace, though we didn't have time to visit it.

Here's what we found in our room.....

A ginormous whirlpool tub IN the bedroom.
They gave us an extra large room(which we hadn't asked for)but didn't charge us extra since the whirlpool was broken.
It would have made a very nice ice bucket IF we were throwing a party in there(and believe me, there was enough space in this room to throw one!).

Then I opened the curtains and looked out our bedroom window at the view.........

Oh goody....a corn field.  How exciting!
 I guess it beats looking out onto a parking lot though, right?

After resting a bit we headed out to find something for dinner.  We drove down the highway south into Norwalk, OH.  After driving into the center of downtown, we headed back north a bit and stopped at the Fortune Buffet.
The food was pretty good except for a few items that were super spicy, which usually aren't so hot at most Chinese restaurants.
They should bottle and sell their Hot and Sour Soup as a sinus treatment.  One sip of it and my sinuses were cleared right out!!!




After dinner I had to get my photo taken to immortalize the stop.
I hope the Chinese gods don't take offense at me making bunny ears on that lion....

After dinner, we stopped along the way back to the hotel at a local K-Mart.  Partly to get some exercise and walk off dinner and partly because we needed to buy a "Church key" because we forgot to bring one from home.
And because we are who we are, we walked and shopped that store, buying various and sundry items and got into the car and realized we forgot the one thing we went in there to buy.
Doh.

While in K-Mart, I went over to the drink aisle to see if they carried any Vernor's Ginger-Ale.
Sister in-laws old boyfriend was from OH and since he has lived in Weehawken, NJ for many years now since she moved to IL, she was always stopping in OH to buy and bring him some Vernor's Ginger-Ale when she came out East, because it's just "Deliciously Different".

                  Image from groceries-express.com

And as I took the Ginger-Ale off the shelf, I turned to face the opposite shelves and saw this.....

Here's a close up since looking at adult beverages is always interesting....

The skies opened up and angels descended from the heavens.......they sell BOOZE in K-Mart in Ohio!!!
Except on Sundays because you just can't have people getting liquored up on the Lord's Day evidently.....

So needless to say, we left with some adult beverages(Great Lakes Burning River beer and Mike's hard lemonade) to enjoy back at the hotel and to cart with us to our next stop in IL.

Thus ended Day One of the Great Road Trip of Summer 2013.
We started with the Amish and ended with booze.....nice combo, huh?

Stay tuned for Day Two coming soon.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Thank Goodness Marching Band Season is Over" Edition.......

 

 

 

 

#2 Son is happy that his last season of Marching Band finished up on Sunday.  Now he just has 2 Concert Band concerts, 2 Jazz Band concerts and Pitt Orchestra for the School Musical and ALL the rehearsals for each to go before he graduates in the Spring.
The photo is of some of the band kids after a meet performance back in October that our group hosted.  #2 Son is standing on the track(behind the fence)right above the drum in this shot.

Here are the meals that were planned last week--
 

Sunday--Chinese Take-Out  Treating ourselves tonight
Monday--Mushroom Alfredo shells with leftover London Broil, Spinach Salad(Hubs is craving pasta)
Tuesday--Baked Fish(in freezer) and crab cakes(freezer), coleslaw, some veggie(freezer)
Wednesday--Lasagna(leftover-then the rest gets put into the freezer for later)
Thursday--Chicken Pot Pie(using leftover chicken, carrots, potatoes + fresh broccoli)
Friday--maybe Domino's pizza using one of my free coupons + a big salad for me
Saturday--leftovers or something scrounged around the house

Everything eaten as planned except Friday's dinner was Saturday's and vice versa.
I used the leftover Broccoli Soup from weeks ago in my pot pie instead of making a sauce/cream from scratch or opening a can of soup to use.  I am so proud of me......!

And I ended up eating too much pizza.  I hadn't had any in so long and it was so good that I just couldn't eat one slice. lol

As for food spending last week....you might want to look away as it's going to be bad(spendy).  There were 6 trips to the store and I spent $287.01 on $554.87 worth of groceries at 5 different stores.  I've spent $385.79 of my $400 November food budget so far and there are 17 days left for this month. 
bleh.
Hubs made a stop after work at a store we don't often go to.  There was the monthly trip to the Bakery/Bread Outlet and I had a 15% off discount card for Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)I had to use or lose and they had some good food buys, even before that discount.  So we blew through a bit of money on foodstuffs last week.

Not to worry though as we have extra funds each month plus I am stockpiling last week and this week so we spend enough to get our Thanksgiving gift certificate at one of my stores.  Might as well buy the items that will keep now and they count toward our spending rather than buying them next month and not having them count, right?  I am hoping that my December spending will reflect these buying ahead deals and be lower than my usual.
We shall see.....

Leftovers going into this week--1/2 a large family-sized chicken pot pie and a whole pizza(but that will most likely be scarfed down between meals or as lunches).

Here's this week's meal plan---

Sunday--Burgers on Rolls, Collard Greens
Monday--Mushroom Parmesan, Salad
Tuesday--Roasted Chicken, Carrots, Stuffing
Wednesday--leftover Chicken Pot Pie
Thursday--Steak, Roasted Asparagus & Potatoes
Friday--Baked Fish, Coleslaw, Green Beans
Saturday--Chicken & Dumplings

What I need to purchase for this menu?......
I still need to spend about $55 this week to get to our Turkey Day gift certificate.
I'm going to try to keep the spending to $55 but even so, that will put us over budget in November by $40+ and that's not counting buying a turkey.
bleh again.
Oh what the hell......I am going to fly the white flag this month.
I give up. ;-)

What got fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

This is a Joke, Right? lol

Broken heating system, lows in the 20's last night and I wake up to this!?!

Ugh and double Ugh.

It would be prettier if the house was warmer. lol

I woke up yesterday feeling depressed.....I hate that!
I am just feeling overwhelmed with what I want to get done and feeling like I have nothing to look forward to lately.
No fun trips ahead, nobody coming to visit me to distract me.  No kids coming home for Thanksgiving or Christmas yet from where they are, they do reach out to share their troubles with me, so I get all the bad/stressful things about being a parent but none of the joys.

And I just have a body that won't do what I want to do so I can get things done.
Getting old sucks.

And I don't seem to have an blogging mojo either lately.
Somebody please send me a big box of that willya? ;-)

Oh, and somebody inquired about whether we have any heat on my last post.....we have a combined ceramic storage heating system with a plain old baseboard electric system that came with the house.  5 rooms have the storage heat and the other bedrooms,  baths and downstairs hallway have the baseboard.  As the ceramic units have died through the years we have replaced them with electric baseboard(though the kitchen and living room units have died we haven't replace them yet).  So the mini-split HVAC system is an additional heating source for us, not the only source.  A mini-split can't be used as a primary source in this part of the country as it's too cold, maybe down South it would be enough on the heating end of things.  We figured when we went to put this system in for a/c that we might as well get the heat too(since it cost almost the same price for either just a/c or both a/c and heat), plus it would add value to the house having an auxiliary heating source.


Off to feed the doggies and then get ready to hobble off to the Podiatrist....IF I can find their office.

Sluggy

And It Just NEVER Stops Sometimes....

Well, the verdict on the new heating/cooling system is that the compressor is defective.
Leave it to us to get one built on a Monday(the day most defective things are made).

So now we are in Waiting Mode.....waiting to see if they can find another of this compressor in a warehouse somewhere(that would be good!)or if they have to wait for one to be shipped from the Far East(that would be very bad).
No clue when we will hear about an arrival date for the part and an even bigger no clue on when we will have a functioning heating/cooling system.

And it's suppose to get down to 22 degrees tonight, plus we had SNOW and HAIL last Friday.
Nice. 8-(

#2 Son's Marching Band season officially came to an end Sunday when they competed in the Championships.  They placed 6th in a field of 16.
Go Comets!

One of my eBay auctions ended and something sold for a lot less than I hoped it would go for.
bleh.
And I am still waiting for her to pay me for it.
Double bleh.

I have my podiatrist appointment tomorrow and hopefully he has some ideas to get my feet shipshape.  So think good thoughts on that!

And about half an hour ago, look at what came out of my mouth.....

A crown on my back molar.
Fun.

My dentist doesn't reopen until Wednesday but luckily she is meeting me at her office this evening to put this thing back where it belongs.
Counting the hours until the throbbing pain will go away and I can eat & drink again.

On second thought, if she doesn't fix this, I am guaranteed to lose weight without the hassle of dieting or expense of bariatric surgery!
Hmmmmm.......

Yep, it's always something around here.

Sluggy
 

In Memory of Those Who Served....Thank a Vet!

Today is Veteran's Day so pray for, be respectful of, and honor the military veterans in your lives today.

Here at Chez Sluggy we have a few family and ancestor vets we think about and honor today......

My Hubs' side of the family there is--
His older brother Tony, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.
He is our family's only living veteran.


Those who have gone from us on Hub's side are his Uncle Charles, who served in the Navy during World War II.
The only photo I have of him is this one.....he is the small boy on the right in the front.....

And then there is Hub's dad Steve, who served in the Army Air Corp during World War II.

Those are the only veterans of military service I've uncovered so far on Hub's side of the family.

On my side, I have many many military veterans.
First off, there is my grandfather Frank, who served as a Master Sargent during World War II.  He is the handsomely rakish guy in the front center of this photo.....

He survived the war and went on to make the military his career until his retirement in the 1960's.

Then there are my Great Uncles....

US Navy Seaman 2nd Class Tucker Harper, who was wounded in action but survived World War II.

And Great Uncle "Mack" who enlisted in Sept. of 1942 and served in the Army during World War II.
He was disabled on the battlefield in Europe and ended up stateside in Hospital and never fully recovered.  His battlefield experiences had lasting terrible effects upon him the rest of his life.

His wife Edith, also served in the Cadet Nursing Corp during World War II.  That is how they met.

And if we go back beyond the 20th century, there are many veterans on my mother's side of the family from the Civil War.

Among them are two brothers, my Great Uncles, John & Joseph Harper....

The husband of my 2 x Great Aunt, George Washington Barksdale served as a mechanic in the CSA.

And all my Holt relations-6 brothers who each served in the Confederacy....

From Marcellus who survived the war.....

To John Lee Holt who was KIA at Gettysburg.....

And my 3x Great Uncle William Foster, who served in the Army during the War Between the State. William was actually the last surviving member of his regiment, the 23rd Virginia, dying in October of 1931 at the age of 71+ years old.....

And there is Joseph Hamilton, who served in the CSA VA Reserves and died in a POW camp in Ohio....

 

And going back even further in our country's history, I can count my 7 x Great Grandfather Thomas Foster.  Though advanced in age at the time of the American Revolution he served as a Wagoneer, driving & also furnishing supplies for the Continental Army until his death in 1786 in Virginia.

At least 3 of his son's also served as soldiers in the American Revolution--

Thomas Foster who served 3 years as a private.
William "Billy" Foster who served as a 1st Lieutenant in the 3rd VA Army.  He enlisted 10 May 1777 and by the time the war was over, he was a Major.  He took part in the Battle of Stono Ferry where the patriots held off the British forces trying to capture Charleston, SC.

And brother Robert Foster, my 6 x Great Grandfather, who was an Ensign in the Army(today that rank is only used in the US Navy). 

All three, Thomas the father, sons William and Robert were here during the Winter of 1777-1778.....

 All 3 Foster men survived the Valley Forge Encampment and the Revolution but countless other's did not.

I give thanks to them and all my ancestors who came after them who also answered the call to arms to defend our Freedoms.

Sluggy