FINAL trip up North, hopefully, for a very very, let me say again very long time. I literally had fingers crossed as the "buyer/savior" nonchalantly signed her little mountain of paperwork for the house. Then tried to act cool by not snatching the check and rushing giddily out the door laughing like a demented hyena. Fifteen minutes flat which I feel is a world record prompted by my "let's just pop in early and maybe they can start earlier". Of course this was overshadowed by my discreet, ahem, glancing at my phone to assess the ominous set of "lake effect showers" impacting the escape route. Also record-setting visits to the bank and the attorney to make copies; cutting the chatter short and again trying to disguise my eagerness to bogey.
THE SCENIC ROUTE The problem, of course, was no matter how many times I looked at it, the weather prediction sucked (best descriptor). Brief spots of clear surrounded by abysmal shadows of unrelenting squalls all the way home (roast beef notwithstanding - 3 little pigs reference is reaching, but oh well). I voted for a sitting tight option (which would probably have been 4 days) while the OH's vote was of the "damn the torpedoes" variety. Well we can always hole up if it gets bad - NOT. Mostly because when it got bad, we were in the proverbial middle of nowhere and any clear spots were attacked with an optimistic 75 mph, until we coudn't. The first 20 miles were fine...then there was the rest of the trip.
Highlight was the giddy, gallivant into a gaping gully garnished with guardrails gliding 360 that occurred. Barely enjoying a sigh of relief we did not crash into the guardrails on the far side was immediately stifled by the comedic slide back to the looming guardrails on the other side of the road. Missed both sides, cue the triumphant music. Guess I'm getting new tires for Christmas under our new regime of less clutter, more practical; no stuff, just experiences; no knick knacks, more gift cards. Yeh.
Limping to the expressway while I'm searching for hotels a mere 40 miles from our starting point, we find the expressway somewhat decent....until it wasn't. Following two tire tracks, a snake trail of cars, semis roaring by and waving at people as they slid down the side of the hills, we did not dare stop. I think my colon finally unclenched a day or so later. Spoiler alert - we didn't die.
However the rest of the trip was just one shade less exciting culminating in the ice-crusted roads 20 miles from home where again passed the time counting the skid marks and vehicles off the road. Upon leaving the expressway and traveling the two roads to home (about 5 miles) there was literally no road to follow. Thank you person ahead of us who happened to be going the same way. The joke in Michigan is "Hey hold my beer and watch this" no joke.
GRANDPARENTING Had the pleasure of young Mr. Robel's company over the weekend where he and Grandpa attacked the pool table for a couple of hours. Good skills for college. Then he helped shovel the driveway and walkway. Mom forgot to drop off his foul weather gear, so we had to make do with what we had and what fit. (see pic) It's nice that he's growing up and can be helpful but there are some drawbacks. I was checking emails when Mr. Nosey notices I was looking at one of his "Dolphins" items delivery dates. Darn, he can read and he can put two and two together. I passed it off as just spam, but he knows how to check history. Ah well, I'm sure he will be cool on Christmas morning.
Another change to the routine is his Mom is hosting Thanksgiving for us this year for the first time with a bit of help from Dad. Life is changing and I think we can look forward to a little resting on our laurels in the years to come. Peace out.....💙💛
No comments:
Post a Comment