Travelogue, Day 2

As we go back to continue our saga of the long trip to Ohio, we find our travelers rising early to continue their trek! One slight digression though! Anne thought I was totally nutty, but I think you will all agree with me. See what you think....on Thursday night, I had checked my estimate of the remaining distance to travel, and did a rough calculation of our rate of travel. I then took a pessimistic view, and deducted about 5-10 miles per hour from that number, in case of traffic delays, etc. I figured that in order to arrive in Beavercreek around 1 p.m., which was our target time, we really needed to leave by 8 a.m. the next morning. So, I set the alarm for 7.30 a.m.! That makes sense, right? Anne thought it was crazy--that I should set the alarm for 8! I think that in better times she would have seen the wisdom of what I did, but under the circumstances, she did not see it! As it was, I didn't make her get up till almost 8, and we weren't on the road till about 8.20. Despite that, I think we were in Beavercreek by about 1.10. Not bad! When we got into Ohio, we had a brief panic, when we worried that Anne had left Hilary's phone number at home. I had a brain storm, that perhaps it was on the little yellow pad in my basket, which was in the back seat! Hilary hadn't called by the time we got to Beavercreek, and Anne then found that the yellow pad was within reach---I had thought it was on the side against the back door, where she would not have been able to reach it. Fortunately, the number was written on that notepad, and Anne was able to put in a call to Hilary.

The arrangement was to meet somewhere in Beavercreek, and since Red Robin (a great hamburger, etc, joint that they had put in our last year in OH)is one of our favorites, and also Hilary's, we planned to meet there. We hadn't had lunch yet, so we went ahead and ordered, after hearing from Hilary. She left home after hearing from us, which meant it would be at least an hour before we saw her. I think she told Anne she had already had lunch, too. We had a great visit with her, and were so glad that she was able to take time out to see us the day before her wedding!!!! What a great friend! It did work out well for her too, as she had wanted to bring her car up and leave it at fiance Zack's place, for after the wedding. Zack lives in Fairborn. She got a ride back home with "the boys" who were going to be going down for the rehearsal. It all worked out really well. Anne was so happy to be able to spend some time with Hilary, as we knew that things would likely be rather hectic on the big day.

After Hilary headed off for Zack's place, we headed over to the base, to see if they had a room at the Hope Hotel. They did!!! I got the car unloaded and Anne had a rest, as she was awfully tired. We made a trip to the BX, as she wanted some backs for the earrings she had made to wear for the wedding. They are not studs, but have wires, and although the wire is long, she was worried about losing them. We ran into one of the commissary baggers that we always used to talk to--she was shopping in the BX! She was really surprised to see us, and we had a good chat! It was nice to see a familiar face! Oh, for those of you who might remember the base at all, the lemon lots at Kittyhawk have been emptied, and the one on the east side of the road has been all torn up and there is a building project going on! They are building a big shoppette and gas station there!!!! It looks like it will be really nice.

We had a quiet evening--dinner (the whole trip, we split meals, so as not to waste any more food than necessary), a stop at Michaels to check out their yarn assortment and then back to the room to relax and knit, while watching TV.

Next installment, Saturday, the wedding day.