Back and forth on travel Day One and Day Two

I’m wearing my SHRUTE FARMS BEETS T-shirt. We’re leaving the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. I’ll have to post this the next time I have wi-fi but a lot has happened since we left Monday and I didn’t want to go too far in this trip without writing.


So we left Monday. Late. Way behind schedule. We’ll just skip over my meltdown about that. It was already going on rush hour traffic when we stopped at the Air Force Memorial one last time.

Speaking of the memorial, at our going way luncheon last week JG’s supervisor, Master Sgt Russell Petcoff, presented an Air Force Memorial paperweight to him. The memorial means a lot to us since we were married there, but especially for JG since he’s been covering the Air Force Memorial since they broke ground to build it about four years ago. This was also where he had his reenlistment.

If Sergeant Petcoff’s name sounds familiar to those of you who follow Air Force glogs, it probably because he’s done some blogging for U.S. Air Force Live.

So, back to Monday. We drove less than two hours into the trip and we stopped for the night at my friend Melissa’s in West Virginia. It had been about six years since we saw each other last. Since then we’ve both divorced and upgraded the caliber men in our life. The boys had a blast playing with her kids. Lelia is just one year older than our Edward, and since she’s a girl Edward was enamored. Zachary and Rudy played much better than when they were three and one.

And when we left West Virginia (skipping the part about the teary goodbye) we it was like we couldn’t leave West Virginia. We weaved in and out of the state two more times on the way to Ohio.

Once in Ohio we saw signs for a Toy and Train museum, but right now they are only open on weekends – would have been nice to know this before exiting the highway. But, it wasn’t all at a loss. They boys posed on a big train car that was in the parking lot.

That’s when I took over driving and made the executive decision to stop for the night at 4 p.m. I gps’d the nearest Comfort Inn (make-your-own Belgian waffles in the morning, don’t jusdge). The had an indoor pool that we enjoyed before dinner at the Olive Garden. JG commented on getting a room on the first floor right next to the side entry door. “This is what happens when you stop for the night early – you get a good room, lots of parking space for the truck and trailer.” To which he replied, “No, that’s what we get for staying in Ohio.” Well, I have all week to prove him wrong 

Okay – so it’s very rare I get a bad meal at the Olive Garden. Well, JG ordered one of my favorite chicken dishes for himself – the scampi, so I figured I’d order something he enoyed se we could share with each other. I got the stuffed Chicken Marsala (bacon!) with the garlic mashed potatoes. Well – they were the worst mashed potatoes I’ve ever had out. I ate allt he mushrooms, took a bite of the chicken then sent the plate back.

Now, this morning on the way to Dayton we stopped at Best Buy to get a replacement DS for Edward since the used one he got from his brother at Christmas completely broke broke – first the hinges, then it was unable to charge. Ofcourse it breaks on the way to Melissas, the first hour of the trip.

Also, in the first hour of the trip the alarm went off at he Dulles Toll Road. We gyped them a quarter for the extra axle we had with the trailer.

Okay, so we’re at Best Buy today and JG goes to pay and realizes that he doen’t have his debit card. The last place he used it? Yep. Olive Garden. We put a hold on the card, then called the restauarant and asked them to shred it up.

We had fun at the Air Force museum. The only thing I was excited about seeing was the Hanoi Taxi. I was there when the last C-141 was retired there by the 445th Airlift Wing, AirForce Reserve, years ago.

Second favorite was the four of us crammed into the “photo” booth that makes a drawing.

So, I realized that my favorite thing to do at museums is to watch the videos. I need to file that for later.

In the time I’ve written this we’re now five miles from the Ohio, Indiana boarder. On the list is Scott Air Force Base and Hannibal, Missouri.