Super 8 Motel - Marietta

Today we drove from Hershey, Pennsylvania to this town in West Virginia. It was a lot of miles covered and do you want to know the funniest thing about choosing this off the "Pike" route ? My main plan was to choose a road with few mountains so that I didn't have to force the Minnie Winnie's engine ! Ever heard the song "Take me home West Virginia - MOUNTAIN momma ! Ok this is Morgan's favorite song and ...

... a beautiful mix of spring woods and green green fields, jagged hills and narrow valleys. We stopped in the college town of Frostburg (where I posted the last blog from a little cafe that we stopped at for coffee and stayed for lunch.) At one point in WV we decided to shun-pike, but the state route we started up was SO windy and narrow (and we would have been on it for 30 miles) that we gave up and backtracked to the highway. So ...

... trailer tire had blown out! What a day! We called and had someone come help us with the tire, then we had to slowly drive to the next exit and try our best to fix the awning!!!! Praise God everything turned out okay, and the day really ended up being quite nice. We are now just trying to relax and enjoy our hotel here in Cambridge, OH.

... had nowhere in particular we had to be...so we made our way back to the bedroom...and later took a nap :-) We awoke later to a knocking at the door, and this friendly guy starting jacking up the rv and replacing the tire. Was quite a fun time. In fact, I can say with absolute certainty that I've never had so much fun being broken down on the side of the road :-) After he was done, he even gave us an extra tire gauge he had to keep tabs on the rest of the tires' pressure. Cool dude.

... miles. Toledo 205 miles. 9:30 Pass through South Bend. 9:45 Rest room and windshield washing break. 11:00 Cross into Ohio and pick up old-fashioned turnpike ticket. No EZ-Pass on the Ohio Turnpike. 12:10 Cleveland 100 miles. 12:15 Lunch break with a personal pizza. 1:45 Cleveland 50. 2:05 I-80/I-90 split. 3:10 I-76 towards ...

Well I am about ready to deoart on this great adventure. Mom and Dad are taking me to the airport. I can't wait to get away from that Burger King guy. He freaks me out. Who Dey! I am disappointed I will miss four whole Bengal games, but I had to take this opportunity. I am a little nervous about going by myself, but I am confident I can handle things and that I will meet a lot of great people. I am ready as ever, so I better not miss my flight! See you across the pond!

... me driving a tractor with a trailer with a huge barrel of water which their grand-daughter then waters the trees/plants with. Being an urban kind of guy I've never driven a tractor before, and probably never will again! Afterwards we had ice cream at the localice cream parlour. I had amoose trail, vanilla with streaks of choclate running through. The cone was anbout 100mm high, the ice cream 200mm high above it. Yum yum!!

... The door recess is very nice with an integral memorabilia cabinet. Phase 2 is on the same lines with 12 bed nursing care opening onto a toplit common area and service rooms built inyto the hillside ti the rear. I can't describe this place in words, you'll have to wait for my photos. The more I think about it hrogh, the more the common areas do feel like a prison atrium. Sorry.

Well, this is the first entry of my travelogue. I'd like this to be used as a reference for everyone, so that you can look at pictures, maps, and other descriptions of Thailand. This way, you'll have some idea of the people, places, and things that I'm talking about in my letters. After spending a very enjoyable xmas with the family in Richmond VA, I'll be heading to sunny San Diego to visit the ...

... to be a national pastime - window shopping and getting the best of the other window shoppers! We had so many great meals in Athens and surrounding areas. It was really a pleasure to be 'presented' past the food on the way to our table as a way of showing us that the food was all very fresh.