Tuesday, July 8, 2008

February 4, 2008 ~ New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts

We left Portsmouth, New Hamshire and drove to Portland, Maine. We had to meet a guy at the Maine Mall in Portland to pick up a parachute kinda thing ~ it looks like a go-cart with a propeller and a parachute. I'm not sure who would even WANT to fly something like this!

We met our guy around noon and loaded the 'thing' onto our trailer. Then, we had to rearrange it to strap it down right and everything. It wasn't too heavy, but it was heavier in the rearend (with the motor) than what I can help much with. A man pulled in beside us and asked Chris if he needed help, and with the two of them it took about 5 minutes to get it set on there right. After that, a mall security guy came over and asked if we needed help. On the way back to New Hampshire, the truck acted up again and was blowing black smoke out of the exhaust pipe ~ some man pulled up beside us on I-95 and told us we were smoking. Wow. I've decided that Maine people are very friendly and helpful.

We had to go to New Durham, NH to pick up a PT Cruiser. Then to Sutton, MA to pick up some auto seats and a transmission. By that time, it was evening and we had quite a load on the truck. When leaving Sutton, MA, this technically starts our trip back home ~ whew! We love to travel, but it's always nice to go back home, even if it is just for a few days.

As we were traveling across Massachusetts, it started snowing and just a little bit of freezing rain. We stopped in Westfield, MA to buy some more tarps and strap/secure the load a little more ~ we had to make several stops to keep re-checking to make sure the load wasn't exposed to the elements.

The further west we went, the more it was snowing and freezing rain. Me, being me, wanted to stop and get a room. I don't like to push the envelope with a load on the trailer. Chris, being Chris, wanted to keep driving ~ in looking at the forecast, we needed to get as far west as we could or risk getting shut down for a day due to weather. Since he was in control of the steering wheel, we kept driving. It was iffy a few times, but the temperatures stayed right around freezing and the roads didn't ice over, so we kept truckin'. We did stop a couple of times on the New York Thruway Service Plazas for coffee and little catnaps.

We really didn't eat all day. Chris ate the leftovers from Ruby Tuesdays and I snacked around on crackers and trail mix bars. I did get us each a low fat blueberry muffin from Dunkin' Donuts when I got us some coffee. I also grabbed a hamburger from one of the fast food places in one of the service areas ~ I don't guess two bites constitutes eating does it? Not much I can say in favor of a hamburger that I get out of a warming bin in the middle of the night. What was I thinking??

This morning we are heading through Buffalo and on our way to the Cleveland area. We should have a hotel room by mid/late afternoon ~ I think I'll take a nap!

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