Heading to PA

Hubby and I are heading to PA to visit our parents. Driving. By way of Columbus, Ohio. We’ll travel the southern part of PA via the Turnpike to Harrisburg area, where hubby‘s mom‘s house. Then after a few days, we’ll be heading northwest, through State College and Penn State, on the way to DuBois, where my parents live.

After Super Bowl Sunday, we needed a day to prepare for the trip. The last few years, we have been flying into Baltimore or Pittsburgh. This year we decided to drive, taking the truck and flatbed trailer, to pick up a tractor that hubby found on the internet. We now own a 1998 Case with a loader! And it’s a big loader! We will no longer be snowed in, or have our driveway filled 3’ deep by the road grader!

After spending an afternoon on re-wiring the trailer, hubby got everything he needed to haul the trailer home. Spare trailer tire. Chains and tie straps.

Then we packed, and I was glad to see that we only had 1 large suitcase and 1 smaller one, with me packing in the smaller one! I only took 1 change of clothes per day, and really, that is all anyone should pack! Then we packed a shoe bag - old ones, good ones, and sneakers. Well, actually we wore the old ones, so 2 extra pairs each, since we don’t know what the weather would be like. Oh, and don’t forget the overnight bag, as well as a flannel sheet, to use when we stop at Ben‘s, Tom’s nephew in Columbus, for the night. Then the extra coat - one nice one and one really warm one for each of us!

I got the snack bag ready, and a cooler with pop. I filled a bag with some magazines and books that I hope to read. After 2 laptops and my camera, the back seat was full! How can 2 people have so much stuff to take? But we are going for 8 days and it is winter, so who knows what weather we will run into. Oh, and speaking of that, we put in a sleeping bag, and anytime hubby remembers, we put in his slim pillow. I don’t know why he calls it a pillow, because it’s flat and has zero fluff.

Anticipating frigid weather, and we didn’t realize how frigid the first morning was going to be, hubby filled the gas tank and checked and filled all tires on the truck and trailer. I filled all waters and turned up some room heaters so pipes won’t freeze.

We set the alarm for 4:30. That is AM. Hubby fed dogs and cats, and put everything into the truck, since it was dark by the time we had all of our bags and food downstairs and by the door. Normally, everything except the laptops and camera and my purse would have been in the truck the night before. But hubby had everything in the back seat of the truck in about 10 minutes, while I stayed warm inside. It was -4.

I think I was in la-la land the first hour, driving to and through Omaha. After crossing the river into Iowa, I dozed off and on for about an hour. The road was rough, and the tires, since hubby had to fill them ALL the way with air, were very bouncy. My head got bounced around enough, and I decided to drink a cup of coffee. Oh, yes, we have a full thermos and 2 travel mugs also, as well as the Garmin Nuvi and cell phones with internet connections. We also have the converter to plug all these wires into so they have power! I have so many wires in front of my legs that I almost can’t get out of the truck.

Well, I made the mistake of looking at the truck temperature gauge, and it read a (-15). That is a MINUS 15. And this was about 2 hours after leaving home. When the sun came out, it warmed up to a -4 by the time we left Iowa.

14 hours later, we arrived at Ben’s place in Columbus. We parked the truck and trailer behind the Kroger’s grocery store and put all the essentials for the night into Ben’s Blazer. Luckily the truck and trailer were there the next morning at 6:45.

I was hoping no one would break a truck window and take our clothes and shoes and winter coats! Lol Everything was fine, except we didn’t have trailer lights. After blowing 2 fuses, hubby decided that there was enough morning light to drive without lights. But when we pulled into a gas station 15 minutes later, we had trailer turn signals. We needed fuel for both the truck and for us. Our fuel was in the form of coffee, a very large coffee I might add.

We drove 2 hours to see and purchase the tractor. We drove through the town where Longaberger baskets are, and I wished I would have had my camera ready. I knew their office building or their plant was built in the shape of a basket. It was a very large building with an extremely large handle.

The tractor is huge, runs great, and is going to be a great asset to my business. Even though it isn’t green, I’m just happy to have a tractor that will move round bales and snow, and that will run all the time!

I need to get the camera out, as we are passing some really neat, older barns. I just love old barns.

I’ll taking some pics today, as we travel the PA Turnpike to hubby’s mother’s home. We’ve gone through some bridges and I should have taken a picture of them, also. I think there is 1 more on the way, so check back tomorrow for some shots of the PA countryside!

Photos will be posted tomorrow!