Trip Log, Part One, Days Zero, One, Two
Prelude: Two visits to my family in New Jersey, to prepare the car, then to say goodbye to everybody. In between, a visit from 
Pathia, which once again was during a time when I did not feel terribly well. I've been in a poor state for the whole second half of the year, however, so this isn't new. I love her.. and it was hard to see her off again. I think I might try to reach MMF in a couple of months, to see her again, or else there's FC early next year, which is a must attend. I know it won't be long, though, which made it.. more bearable.
Going home was harder, because I am pretty sure its the last time I will see my cat, Licorish.. She is essentially allergic to her own skin, and her body is attacking itself viciously. We had a vet to go to, but he was very old, and was finally retiring.. he gave us a discounted rate, because he wanted to help. But with him gone, my family can't afford to keep going to the vet for her, so long as my mom cannot find new work at her age. So, she's condemned to die, really..
She's so pathetic, its heart breaking. I fed her all the turkey and ham in the fridge when I got home, and a bit of milk.. and she hung around me all day, and all the next day, sitting in the sun near by as I cleaned the car. Can't even touch her, her skin is so hard and damaged by this.. but she kept near me, anyhow. I brought her water while she stayed with me, as she's always thirsty now. Its.. incredibly hard to watch her suffer, and.. among all the departures, she was the only one I cried with while still in their presence. But I did for all..
----
Day Zero was originally to be Day One, but the movers decided not to show up until the next day. So, it was spent preparing for them, and honestly, it was needed.
Circuit_Four,
JadedFox,
Kereminde,
Dagoski and his wonderful wife helped the prior day, and the first three continued to the end. Food was Texas Roadhouse, Subways. The final event was to remove the late
Vixapede's car from the garage, finally, which involved me at the helm, and everyone else amusingly pushing at it while it was still tied to the ground, to keep it in place. We.. overcame the bondage, before realizing it was there. [[Random pictures of the house to be added here.]]
----
Day One was spent from the crack of dawn preparing for, then aiding the movers, who arrived slightly before noon. I and (Random Other Person) ended up on multiple errands, for over a hundred dollars in additional boxes, and a bit of change for tape and other materials. It was nerve wracking and hectic all day, but.. we expected as much. The movers accidently packed
TracerJ's cellphone in a box, as we found out by ringing it.
The house is not in perfect shape, but its in better condition than I anticipated. We still did not replace the front screen door, and I think this will hurt us. And the amount of garbage we created could easily warranta skip. I think we'll be getting a nastygram from the town over some of the stuff we left. Pushing the car out to be towed already got us confused phonecalls.
After a final dinner at Longhorn Steakouse, we parted with our helpers and set off for Pittsburgh, Circuit_Four driving this portion of the route. It was uneventful, save a few directional blips. The Aux Input, the Power Strip all worked well..! [[Pictures of Hotel to be added here]]
Pottstown, PA to Longhorn, to Wawa 422, to 176, to I76, to midway rest stop, to Holiday Inn Express on route 30 and 76 crossing; 4h11m, 22.1mpg, 261mi; Kincade Driving.
----
Day Two started with breakfast, biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, etc. Then the trip to
Glashund's house, to see him,
Goji, and
Sarahmonster, and additionally repair
Krdbuni's laptop, with the help of an IBM/Lenovo rep. That was supposed to take half the day, but.. instead took the whole day, as the rep wanted to delay until tomorrow, and after escalation only could manage to come late in the day. He failed to fix Kristy's laptop, which unfortunately needs not only a new main board and chip, but a new video card. Food was at Eat and Park, and later at Steak and Shake.
Despite not being on the highway much, I still put in 4h35m of driving time today.. and did not get far. But, at least we got to see friends, hang out at their home and at Barnes and Nobles for a while. Picked up a Scientific American magazine, and one of the Penny Arcade compliations, Epic Legends Of The Magic Sword Kings. Our first real site seeing portion of the trip occured, when a huge inflatable representation of the spirit of Pittsburgh, in this instance a gigantic tuber wrapped in steal bands with feet bursting from the bottom and tentacles from the top, was encountered on our way to food... [[Pictures of Un's place, Hotel, and People, and Sites to be added here..]]
Holiday Inn Pittsburgh, to Homestead PA, to Lordstown/Newton-Falls Ohio Holiday Inn Express, on Route 80 and 5 intersection. 4h35m, 27.2mpg (after Homestead only), 140mi total; Tanya Driving.
----
Its not too hard to get pretty good milage (27.2..) despite a fully loaded vehicle.. if one drives a certain way. Not slow, but steady. Also, Pittsburgh has the most impressive transportation infrastructure I've ever seen.. I'll explain later, now I need to curl up.
Pathia, which once again was during a time when I did not feel terribly well. I've been in a poor state for the whole second half of the year, however, so this isn't new. I love her.. and it was hard to see her off again. I think I might try to reach MMF in a couple of months, to see her again, or else there's FC early next year, which is a must attend. I know it won't be long, though, which made it.. more bearable.
Going home was harder, because I am pretty sure its the last time I will see my cat, Licorish.. She is essentially allergic to her own skin, and her body is attacking itself viciously. We had a vet to go to, but he was very old, and was finally retiring.. he gave us a discounted rate, because he wanted to help. But with him gone, my family can't afford to keep going to the vet for her, so long as my mom cannot find new work at her age. So, she's condemned to die, really..
She's so pathetic, its heart breaking. I fed her all the turkey and ham in the fridge when I got home, and a bit of milk.. and she hung around me all day, and all the next day, sitting in the sun near by as I cleaned the car. Can't even touch her, her skin is so hard and damaged by this.. but she kept near me, anyhow. I brought her water while she stayed with me, as she's always thirsty now. Its.. incredibly hard to watch her suffer, and.. among all the departures, she was the only one I cried with while still in their presence. But I did for all..
----
Day Zero was originally to be Day One, but the movers decided not to show up until the next day. So, it was spent preparing for them, and honestly, it was needed.
Circuit_Four,
JadedFox,
Kereminde,
Dagoski and his wonderful wife helped the prior day, and the first three continued to the end. Food was Texas Roadhouse, Subways. The final event was to remove the late
Vixapede's car from the garage, finally, which involved me at the helm, and everyone else amusingly pushing at it while it was still tied to the ground, to keep it in place. We.. overcame the bondage, before realizing it was there. [[Random pictures of the house to be added here.]]
----
Day One was spent from the crack of dawn preparing for, then aiding the movers, who arrived slightly before noon. I and (Random Other Person) ended up on multiple errands, for over a hundred dollars in additional boxes, and a bit of change for tape and other materials. It was nerve wracking and hectic all day, but.. we expected as much. The movers accidently packed
TracerJ's cellphone in a box, as we found out by ringing it.
The house is not in perfect shape, but its in better condition than I anticipated. We still did not replace the front screen door, and I think this will hurt us. And the amount of garbage we created could easily warranta skip. I think we'll be getting a nastygram from the town over some of the stuff we left. Pushing the car out to be towed already got us confused phonecalls.
After a final dinner at Longhorn Steakouse, we parted with our helpers and set off for Pittsburgh, Circuit_Four driving this portion of the route. It was uneventful, save a few directional blips. The Aux Input, the Power Strip all worked well..! [[Pictures of Hotel to be added here]]
Pottstown, PA to Longhorn, to Wawa 422, to 176, to I76, to midway rest stop, to Holiday Inn Express on route 30 and 76 crossing; 4h11m, 22.1mpg, 261mi; Kincade Driving.
----
Day Two started with breakfast, biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, etc. Then the trip to
Glashund's house, to see him,
Goji, and
Sarahmonster, and additionally repair
Krdbuni's laptop, with the help of an IBM/Lenovo rep. That was supposed to take half the day, but.. instead took the whole day, as the rep wanted to delay until tomorrow, and after escalation only could manage to come late in the day. He failed to fix Kristy's laptop, which unfortunately needs not only a new main board and chip, but a new video card. Food was at Eat and Park, and later at Steak and Shake.
Despite not being on the highway much, I still put in 4h35m of driving time today.. and did not get far. But, at least we got to see friends, hang out at their home and at Barnes and Nobles for a while. Picked up a Scientific American magazine, and one of the Penny Arcade compliations, Epic Legends Of The Magic Sword Kings. Our first real site seeing portion of the trip occured, when a huge inflatable representation of the spirit of Pittsburgh, in this instance a gigantic tuber wrapped in steal bands with feet bursting from the bottom and tentacles from the top, was encountered on our way to food... [[Pictures of Un's place, Hotel, and People, and Sites to be added here..]]
Holiday Inn Pittsburgh, to Homestead PA, to Lordstown/Newton-Falls Ohio Holiday Inn Express, on Route 80 and 5 intersection. 4h35m, 27.2mpg (after Homestead only), 140mi total; Tanya Driving.
----
Its not too hard to get pretty good milage (27.2..) despite a fully loaded vehicle.. if one drives a certain way. Not slow, but steady. Also, Pittsburgh has the most impressive transportation infrastructure I've ever seen.. I'll explain later, now I need to curl up.