On The Road Again

We got on the road yesterday at about 9:00 and had a leisurely trip across Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and back into PA where we finally stopped for the night in Lancaster.  We avoided the Pennsylvania Turnpike because of heavy Sunday afternoon traffic and opted instead to take I-68 which runs somewhat parallel to the Turnpike but about 45 miles south of it.  It was/is a nice drive but in the end it took us probably 3 additional hours to make the 7 hour trip. 

We stopped just east of Wheeling WV for lunch at a Quaker Steak and Lube and had a great lunch.  Their burgers are huge so Janine and I split a combo burger platter and it worked out to be a perfect combination for both of us.  We typically don’t like to stop at chains when we are traveling, however, in the interest of time and not knowing the territory, we picked this one. 

Our truck for this trip is averaging between 9 and 10 miles per gallon so we had to fill up twice as we traveled.  Once in Lancaster, we found a Wal-Mart where we planned to park the boat and spend the night.  Not far from there we noticed a Red Lobster so we decided to treat ourselves to a commercial fish dinner.  Our goal is to eat a lot of fresh seafood as we travel on the Bay.  It was a great choice.  Janine had flounder and I had a combo meal that included New England clam chowder, salad, a shrimp/scallop pasta dish with Alfredo sauce and a finale of brownie alamode.  It was so big that I will get to have it again for dinner this evening.

After dinner we moved back to the Wal-Mart and found a nice secluded spot around the back away from the bustle of traffic in the main lot.  As the truck rolled to a stop, a security guard drove up and informed us that Wal-Mart had changed their policy of encouraging folks with traveling camping rigs to spend the night in their lot.  OOOOKKKK.   He told us of a place just down the road where they had a lot of parking for trailers and the allowed folks to stay.  We followed his directions and it took us to a commercial camp ground.  I didn’t want to pay to spend the night in a camp ground so we traveled on a bit and found a huge shopping center with a mega parking lot.  We pulled in as any well meaning customer would do, parked the truck and boat off to the side and hunkered down for the night.

We carry a step ladder so that we can get into the boat the side of which when it is on the trailer is about 5 ½ feet high.  We climbed in the boat, drug the ladder into the cockpit, climbed into the boat and prepared for the night.  We were both quite tired so we were in bed by about 9:30.  The temperature outside at our retiring hour was still around 80 degrees and the boat was quite warm.  I found sleep to be quite allusive.  For those who are not aware of our setup, our bed is in the bow of the boat.  The deck is about 3 feet above the bed so the bed is sort of in a cave.  Also, being in the bow, the bed is triangular in shape.  The head of the bed is about 5 to 6 feet wide and the foot is about 5 to 6 inches wide.  Length wise, the bed is about 6 feet long.  So when sleeping, one of us needs to be in a modified fetal position.  So, as we have found in the past the first night is usually not all that restful.  We do, however, adapt fairly quickly when exhaustion takes over on about the second or third day. 

I finally crawled out of bed about 4:45 and was amazed that we were the only vehicle in the huge parking lot.  It turned out to be a great place to spend the night. We plan to eat our breakfast in a restaurant in the interest of saving time.  We will try to be at Janine’s brother’s place by about 9:00 or so.

I checked the water tank and the patch is holding.  There are no detectable leaks.  A good omen!

We stopped in at a Bob Evans for my Sausage Biscuits and Gravy and Janine's 2 eggs and hashbrowns and found that they have wifi so we got an early post.