2011 North West Adventure, Day 34 FINAL DAY!

Day 34 August 5th 2011:

WE MADE IT HOME!!!!!! We pulled 8:47pm…The day started with all intentions of stopping in PA to give me a break, but after some debate and soft deep eye stares from the kids, I decided to drive straight from Cedar Point to home and suffer the 9 hr. drive…It would have been 8, but we sat in 1hr of traffic in PA…the ONLY traffic we sat in this whole trip. The boys have been FANTASTIC, but really wanted to get home yesterday so they can see some of their friends…so who am I to deny them of that!

It really was not a bad drive, just long, but Nicholas and Michael literally sat up front with me the whole trip to keep me company. They did not play PS3, or watch TV…we just sat listened to music and talked…how unbelievably cool that was and what a way to end the trip. 34 days confined, and the love, respect, and closeness we all have is just beyond words.

When we pulled onto the street, the enormity of what we had just accomplished literally settled in on me. We have been gone for 34 days, and traveled through 17 states and 7,890 miles exactly, and have now been in EVERY state – Less Hawaii and Alaska. We had ZERO mechanical problems…only problem we had was caused by me allowing the gas to go low on the generator. NONE of us got sick, we had no delays anywhere, we had AWESOME weather the whole trip…maybe 1 day of real rain, we did not get any speeding tickets – and gosh knows I did a little of that – truth be told, Patty planned the trip to a tee regarding all of our supplies, the boys got along FANTASTIC, in short we have been watched over in so many ways I cannot even recount them all. Everything just worked, and I can only believe the good lord kept an eye on us!

The only event that was extremely tough was My Uncle Rocky passed away. He had been battling several things the past few years, and lost the battle 2 weeks ago. My mother was very close to him and it was very difficult for me not to be there for her and the rest of the family -trust me we looked at all options for me to get home, but in the end we were too far and too close to do anything but watch from the sidelines. YOU WILL BE MISSED UNCLE ROCKY!

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

This blog was started so I could remember what we have done. Basically it was my journal and a way to share where we were with family and friends. Over the years it has grown in many ways and has now become part of the adventure itself, and I am very happy with that. It is fun to log what we have done, but for me to go back and recount the events, just makes me smile and look to the future for the next adventure. I have said this before, but I would like to once again thank EVERYONE who has followed us on this journey, all of my co-workers for their un-wavering support to allow me to conduct business while on the road, you have all been GREAT….and especially our family for the love and support during this trip!

I know I speak for Patty, Michael and Nicholas when I say we are all blessed to have family and friends like you and we are glad to be home!....well Patty Michael and Nicholas are…. 

So until our next adventure….Stay BLESSED!
 

See you soon Cedar Point!

July 3rd 12:00pm.....

August 5th 8:47pm...

ONE BLESSED ADVENTURE!!!!!!

2011 North West Adventure, Day 33

Day 33 August 4th 2011:

Recap of Day 33…A total CHILLAXIN day at Cedar Point. It was a SHORT drive from Michigan to Cedar point, and once again took the By-Way and stayed off of the highway which was a nice treat. We spent the late morning early afternoon in the park, but it was crowded and the lines for the rides were long, so we went to the water park…but first the boys drove GO-KARTS! After the water park, we changed went back to the amusement park, had dinner and rode a few rides. The day was GREAT, and was a perfect way to top the trip off. I did not take a lot of photo’s, I just relaxed myself…Actually I think I was depressed that the trip was over…I think I cried every 10 minutes…LOL!
 

Just a cool bridge going over Sandusky Bay...

300 Feet above the lake....

5 States of Go-Karts!

Had white caps like an Ocean...This is LAKE Erie.

2011 North West Adventure, Day 32

Day 32 August 3rd 2011:

Good evening from Monroe, Michigan. Today was a day of WORK, WORK and some more WORK…Oh well, guess I had it coming! I have said it before, but it must be said again…my co-workers, have really allowed me to scale back the hours and truly be able to enjoy this adventure…You all know who you are, and a special thanks to those that carried extra weight than normal, again so not to offend if I miss a name, you all know who you are!  I can speak for the whole family when I say we are deeply indebted to you all!

As for the “free” time today, we did something very different…GO-KARTS! It is now an objective…to find as many GO-KART places we can. We also did a round of Miniature Golf, and some major CHILLAXIN – well Patty and the boys did!

Tomorrow we head to Cedar Point, a place we always stop when we are out past PA…and a signal to all of us that the adventure is truly OVER!

For a change I will not drive from Cedar Point to home Friday, we will lie-over somewhere in PA and be home God willing Saturday by 1ish…I will not Blog tomorrow or Friday unless there is something to blog about. I will definitely Blog on Saturday / Sunday when we get home to capture my thoughts on the whole adventure, and everything we have seen….It is truly awesome for us to have had you following us on this trip…we hope you have enjoyed the stories and pictures, as much as we have had in making them!

So until Saturday / Sunday, Please have a Blessed rest of the week!

Love to all and we do miss you!!!!
 

Even I got to drive today...These were the fastest cars we have driven..but the track was BUMPY!

32 days and still SMILING!

2011 North West Adventure, Day 31

Day 31 August 2nd 2011:

Good evening from Monroe, Michigan. Today was a great and busy day…after some work this am., we pushed out early to head to Ford for my 2:00pm meeting. On the way, I passed several towns I used to work in and called an old friend I have not seen in years to see if he happened to be around…as good luck was on our side, he was and we met at Exit 69, Big Beaver Road……I will pause here for the dramatic humor of what I just wrote. Now Geoff is a character, but he didn’t make this up, nor did he pick it for any other reason other than it was his exit and I was passing it! We met and spent some time catching up in a Fridays parking lot…man I forgot what a character he is, and how much I enjoyed working with him at JCI….Thanks Geoff, it was great seeing you!!!! Also, our motorhome has a new nickname…SHAMU!

After that went to Ford, and like Superman, less the powers and good looks, changed into a suit – glad it fit after 31 days on the road – and went to see a DATACENTER!!!!!! A large one albeit, and actually a great opportunity for our firm…My contact Frank, was great and gave me a ton of tips and places to visit after we were done with business. A short 1 hr. visit, but well worth the time!

After that we drove BY the Ford Museum and Village…saw some of it, but the kids didn’t want to stop. Looks like a place Patty and I will come see again…On the way to our next destination we stopped at a Bob Evens, and ate like we were all going to the electric chair. We had a blast, and laughed our butts off…especially when an 80 yr old cougar told Michael he was cute like JUSTIN BEIBER!!!!! Absolutely priceless!!!!

On a side note, I sit sometimes and watch our family and cannot believe we have been in the motorhome for 31 days, and we are all still smiling and laughing…It is amazing just how fortunate and blessed we are! It has been an awesome adventure thus far, and we are all really dragging our feet to get home. We miss you all, but this time we are together is just priceless!

Tonight we are staying at a campground with GO-KARTS, and other stuff, and will stay here tomorrow since I have a few calls and other work…best I not drive…lol (is this better Andrew?). Then we are off to Cedar point Thursday and Friday and home God willing Saturday…the next few days will not be a lot of photos, but I will update the day’s events…so until the next blog, please have a Blessed Day!

 

The trucks in Michigan all have like 8 - 10 axles...Very strange.

Eminem's Street - a rapper for those that don't know...The kids thought this was cool.

You can see it in the large photo there is a stop sign to the left that is SO small, compared to this sign made of grass...Very Large.

This is a Town who tried stopping a Hooters!  Go figure...BTW, Hooters is now on this road...SPEECHLESS!

Good friends...good times!

2011 North West Adventure, Day 30

Day 30 August 1st 2011:

Good evening from the 48th state we have been in, Roscommon, Michigan to be exact which is mid way through the state, some 550 miles away from Wisconsin. That’s right WE DID IT…we have been in ALL the lower 48 states!!!!! Can you tell I am excited?

All I can say from today is Lake Michigan is HUGE!!!! It took 6 hours to drive around ½ of it! The upper Peninsula of Wisconsin and Michigan are very nice and scenic…slow moving 2 lane highway with a time change in the middle, but very nice and I am glad we saw both states to this detail.

Did I say the lake is HUGE yet…every time I looked at it I had to remind myself it was a lake not an ocean! White caps, beaches, the whole 9 yards…really wicked. I have seen this lake from the shores of Wisconsin and Michigan, but at the peninsulas it looked more like an ocean!

Tomorrow I do a little work and then we stop to see the Ford Museum…

So until tomorrow…. please have a very Blessed day!

 

It's a bloody OCEAN!