is there any more pie?

3049 is the magic number. Yes, we are home in Rhode Island once again as of 3:30 PM Friday. And yes, that is the number of miles we travelled from the lake to here.

Oh, my goodness.

Sunrise in Pennsylvania, our last day on the road.

Thursday, while Banjo Man was immersed in business meetings, I took advantage of the day off and attempted to swim in the chilly hotel pool. I also…relaxed. Relaxation? What a concept!

Driving at least 400 miles a day kept us busy, but we did have a “short” day on our way to Omaha for the family gathering. We stopped at the best quilt fabric store in the West.I have been here before.

There is a future quilt or two in this bag.

We had a quick but fun lunch with friends in Lincoln. And, for old time’s sake, we stopped at an antique mall on the way to our hotel. Antique malls aren’t what they used to be, so it was disappointing. Not that I wanted to buy anything! But in the past we enjoyed getting off the highway for a little exercise by roaming through aisles of so-called antiques.
I did like these newly painted kitchen carts. Great colors.  But these vases?  No, thank you.  If you collect vases this is the booth for you.

I wanted to sit in this chair and take a nap. Check out the ashtray!

There used to be quilts and tablecloths and all sorts of linens in this place, but those days are over. I saw a lot of china, glassware, Corning Ware, plus various other things that should be in a yard sale.

We didn’t stay long.

Our hotel adventure in Omaha deserves a post of its own, so that will wait.

Other notes from the road? Well, in the future (should we ever do this again) we will aim for 300-350 daily miles and do a few touristy things along the way.

We will stop calling the luggage cart “the roll-ie thing”.

We will stay at Fairfield Inn & Suites, because they don’t p*** us off.

We will know the difference between alpacas and llamas.

We will update the 10-year old Garmin GPS.

Yes, that is snow.

If I could jump for joy this morning I would, though I would not jump on the elevator.

Because, as you can see, many bad things could happen.

We are 387 miles from home and our own beds. It is all very exciting.

While we were gone the last huge section of the tree was cut down and removed, plus the three shattered windows were replaced. I’m anxious to see.

So the road calls! I’m ready.

It is dark. It is raining. I can barely see the white-capped waves on the lake.

We drove extra miles north of the interstate last night in order to stay at a Fairfield Inn because we love them.

We drove over 400 miles yesterday. We were up at six and on the road around 7:30. Banjo Man drove the first two hours. There was sun, there were farms, it was lovely. My turn came and the trip turned ugly: rain, construction and traffic. For hours.

Finally I had had enough and took the exit to Shipshewanna, Indiana, home of the Amish and many quilt stores. We had been here twice before, so we went right to a huge restaurant and scarfed down comfort food at the buffet.

I took a picture of mashed potatoes, but I hesitate to post it.

Uh oh. Time to hit the road. Pennsylvania and Banjo Man are calling!!