A week and a half ago, I made my sixth trip to Ohio in a year. It's a new record. (I said maybe next year I could set the record for the least amount of Ohio trips!) This was a quick one though, I wasn't even there for a day. Basically I was there to get a bunch of stuff from my grandmas house, from the fair, just from Ohio- and to drive my moms car down to Florida for her.
It's a complicated scenario, so follow me here.... My mom had a conference at Disney World this past week. She wanted to drive to the conference because that way she could make last minute Thanksgiving plans. If she wanted to stay here after the conference she could. If she wanted to go to Clint's in Knoxville, she'd stop on the way back, the same for Cort in Cincinnati. It gave her flexibility.
But, my cousin was getting married in L.A. two days before she needed to be in Orlando. So the was no way to be there, fly back to Ohio, and drive to Florida. So, I offered to fly up, get her car, and drive it down so it would be here waiting for her. That way my stuff would be here- and so would her car. She could decide her Thanksgiving plans whenever she wanted that way.
When I got to the airport early Friday morning, I was shocked to see it was snowing in Detroit.
That maybe was the reason my plane was so empty. For real, I haven't been on a plane this empty in years. I didn't even have anyone in my row.
Sure enough, when I landed in Detroit, it was snowing. Gross. I've seen snow way too much this year. I was not pleased.
When I booked my flight and my mom's flight to L.A., I did the timing perfectly. She was flying out the same day I was flying in. Instead of her parking the car and me having to go find it, I arrived about two hours before her flight, and she picked me up, and then we drove over to her terminal and I dropped her off.
I had some instructions from the boys on things to get in Ohio, especially if I was driving and I was going to be home the next night. On that list was Toft's chocolate milk and Jone's soda. I should have picked up some milk. I think milk at $2.87 a gallon at Costco is a great price. But, holy geez, Ohio.
I did have to pump gas in the cold and the snow, though. That's like my second least favorite thing. (My first least favorite thing is scraping ice off car windshields in the cold).
I also picked up some lunch and some Chud Spuds to take home on my way into town.
At least I got to see some fall. There were lots of pretty colors at the top half of the country.
But there was also snow mixed in with those leaves. Yuck.
It took me about two hours to eat lunch, sort through the boys fair stuff that I wanted to bring home, and pack up the car. Then I was out of Fremont with my moms car stuffed to the brim. If you're playing Ohio bingo, I did get stopped by a train. For, like, ever.
I went home via a detour through Columbus for two reasons. One, I finally got to see my oldest friend, Ben (not like he's old- but we've been friends since I was in like 5th grade). We didn't have a ton of time to visit- he had to work, so I drove him there, and we visited on the way.
But I also had a stop to make for Calib. A couple days before hand he decided he really wanted NCAA 14 (a football video game they don't make anymore), but it only plays on Xbox 360 (we have an Xbox One). Asa found out Gamestop was having 360's on sale for $40, and told Calib he'd go halvsies with him. That was fine- but they couldn't find a copy of NCAA 14 anywhere. Calib looked all around Tampa, and couldn't find anything. I said surely somewhere between Detroit and Tampa would have it- so he went looking. (There was nothing in Atlanta or Knoxville) He finally found one copy at a Gamestop in Columbus, so we called to have them hold it for us. I stopped just before closing to pick it up.
After that I headed to my stop for the night at Cort and Holly's house. They were kind enough to pick me up a late dinner, and we played some games. It was a short visit, but it was nice of them to let me stay the night.
I was up bright and early- well, technically it was still dark- to continue on my way. One of my favorite people from my time at Cedar Point lives in Kentucky. I hadn't seen her in years- but she came over to meet me for breakfast right off of I-75. Thanks for coming out so early, Amy!
I was really tired from getting up before six two days in a row. So, I'd periodically stop just to go to the bathroom and walk around. The welcome centers were good for that.
By lunch time I was in Knoxville. Clint and Jess came over to meet me just off of I-75 in Knoxville for lunch at Panera. It was like a little tour across the country to see friends and family.
And before I knew it I had made it to Georgia. It was still cold, but I was able to lose the scarf for my walk around the Georgia welcome center.
Now, I knew driving from Cort's house in Cincinnati to home in one day by myself would be a long trip. But, it was Saturday- so Asa would have the day off. I decided to see if I could find him a cheap flight to meet me part way. I checked lots of cities trying to get the timing and a price I was willing to pay match up. Eventually we found a flight to Atlanta that would put him there mid-day for $30. He wouldn't need a bag or a seating assignment, so that $30 seemed like money well spent. He waited about two hours for me, and I picked him up around 5 at the Atlanta airport. We stopped a little while later for dinner. It was a great plan, because I was really sleepy at that point. He drove the rest of the way in the dark and it was nice to have the company.
We did stop at the Florida state line for a picture- and I was surprised to see the classic blue Florida sign had been replaced.
We got home just before midnight. The boys were excited at everything I had brought from Ohio- including the Apple Cider my mom had picked up a couple weeks earlier and frozen for us. Fremont has (had) the best apple cider mill where they pressed it fresh. Apparently it was the last year for the mill though, so we really enjoyed our last gallon.
We left everything else in the car for the next morning. I had all my stuff (including the desk from the coal cellar we're going to put in the boys Harry Potter room!!!) , plus some Christmas presents mom had wrapped for us, so she wouldn't have to worry about it when she flies down here at Christmas time- and stuff for her conference. The car was FULL. We mostly just put everything in the garage though. I plan on sorting through it this week.
I also brought back some things Nate and Allison had given us- including a computer for Peyton- and some things from my grandpa Sattler since he moved recently.
And besides the apple cider, chocolate milk, Jones soda, and chud spuds... my mom also picked up some pickles from Tony Packo's for us and labeled it 'Emergency Pickle Supply'. Calib had texted her a week or two prior with 'EMERGENCY: WE ARE OUT OF TONY PACKOS PICKLES!'
My mom was also kind enough to pick us a bushel of apples for me to bring back.
I cleaned, peeled and cooked them all so I could freeze them. Now, when I want cinnamon apples with dinner all I have to do is pull them out of the freezer.
Now, we got home Saturday late night. My mom was flying into Tampa from the wedding in LA on Sunday. Instead of someone having to go to the airport to pick her up though, she just drove our car here, since Asa had parked it the night before when we flew from Tampa to Atlanta. Basically, I was a genius logistics planner for this trip. It all worked out pretty perfectly.
Except, as it turns out- my mom is spending Thanksgiving in Detroit with Clint and Jess who are going to the Lions game on Thanksgiving Day. So, while I did get all my stuff down here- the whole 'mom needing her car' thing wasn't actually necessary, since she's just going to end up exactly where she flew out of in the first place.
Next Up: We spent some time at Disney, and checked a couple more items off our Disney Quest list.
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