I ran the NW route down past Suede Ln. I decided to take one extra hill this go round, and it was a steep one, too. Not much left in the tank when I got back to the house. Instead of heading immediately inside, I headed to the dock for a short meditation. Despite the humid sunshine, there was relatively cool breeze blowing in off the lake that felt heavenly. Once my head was in the right place, I headed inside where among other things I enjoyed a second cup of coffee while chatting it up with David & Anita.
At some point I went to check on Mindy only to find her already up, showered, and packing. While she headed out to be social, I packed my things and took a quick shower. It didn't take more than 10 minutes collectively.
Our stated goal was to be on the road by 1030am but that was never intended to be a hard, fast deadline. David asked if there was anything we wanted to do or squeeze in before leaving. Nope. I mentioned that it would be hard to top Thursday day on the lake. And besides, once I have departure and home on my mind I tend to zero in on that like a laser.
While Mindy woke the kids and organized their stuff, I casually loaded our larger stuff for home, including golf clubs, the large cooler and Jacobs wake board. Mindy strategically packed what remained of my IPAs and then some pop between the two rear bench seats. Turns out, we had lots more space for the trip home. David was gracious enough to whip Jacob up some scrambled eggs even though Anita had just finished cleaning up our breakfast dishes. Thanks David and Anita. You guys are simply the best! At David's request, I scribbled an entry into their guest diary then loaded the rest of our gear in the Pilot. Thinking it was close to 1045am when we were completely packed and ready to pull out. We made loose arrangements for them to come visit sometime in August, preferably before school starts for Mindy.
I made note of the miles traveled so far then reset the trip odometer to zero. Up to that point we'd traveled 725 miles since leaving home. From David's place it's roughly 500 miles to home. This time we didn't miss the jog and turns to get back to state route 200 and then I-77. We stopped for a fill-up at the Shell, just like we did after last month's visit.
We made excellent time heading north out of SC and into and through Charlotte. Before we knew it, we were in Va. By then we'd already driven through a handful of brief showers. Not wanting to stop for food too early, we agreed to stop around 230pm. That put us 280 miles out and somewhere between the 1st and 2nd toll booths on the WV turnpike. We stopped in Beckley WV at the Wendy's, and just like the drive down, we opted to eat inside. Something rang familiar about the venue to Mindy, who said she was certain we'd stopped there before. I didn't think so but soon realized that she was right. We stopped at the very same Wendy's three summers ago on our drive to Myrtle Beach. I waited in the car, thus why it didn't look familiar to me. While stopped for lunch we filled the gas tank again too.
Mindy took over the driving duties from that point home. It was nice to sit and relax. I started to dose off at one point but quickly woke and felt wide awake for the duration. I didn't quite know what to do with myself. Nice to let the mind wander and check out the scenery, though I was a little tense with Mindy driving those winding narrows through the WV mountains. Once we cleared the mountains (just south of Charleston) I was much more relaxed.
Like our trip June, it was much cooler in Ohio than it was in SC. It was only 73 degrees when we crossed over into Ohio near 530-6pm. It rained most of the day but sunny as we entered. Stay that way, too. More than once I commented on how lush everything looked. As we past Lancaster I could smell home. At first Mindy's plan was to drop Bella and I at home while she and Jacob went after Eiknarf. But those plans soon morphed into all of us stopping on our way home. With that change, we opted to take 33 to 270 and exited on Georgesville Rd. It was close to 720pm when we pulled up at Gloria's. Mindy promised we wouldn't stay long. She was as eager to get home as I was.
In and out in record time. I'll be we weren't there but 10 minutes. Pulled in our own driveway at 755pm and promptly switched into unload/unpack mode. I did a quick survey of the home, which was fine and then a check of my flowers. Most looked amazing but there were three pots that dad must've missed. I doused the thirsty ones with water before continuing on with the unpacking.
Forgot to mention that daughter Ashley texted and phoned while we were on the road for home confirming any plans to have Olivia overnight. I'd forgotten that I talked with Olivia the prior Saturday while we were in Ashville and she asked about staying overnight when we got back. home. According to Ashley, she was crushed when we told Ashley that we wouldn't be home until 8pm or so. Not wanting to disappoint my grand baby, we talked it over and decided that we'd have Ashley bring her over after her ballgame which would likely end around 730pm.
We weren't home but 15 minutes when three of Bella's peeps came over - Makayla, Lillian, and Emily. Soon Evan came over to see Jacob, too. Bam, just like that, we had a house full. Olivia showed up around 830pm. She was psyched to be staying the night and meshed in nicely with all the other girls. We let them play on the island until 10pm or so. By then Mindy and I were completely unpacked and put away. I contemplated having a beer or Jack & Coke but decided to skip it in favor of ice water. Wise choice. Mindy and I headed ot bed around 1030pm because b and put away. I contemplated having a beer or Jack & Coke but decided to skip it in favor of ice water. Wise choice. Mindy and I headed to bed around 1030pm because by then my eyelids felt as though they had fishing weights hanging from them. Crawling into our own bed was heavenly. Couldn't wait to slobber on my pillow! :)
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