First Leg

First things first.  Preferred (and sometimes non-negotiable) road trip snacks: Goldfish and Fig Newtons.  Hubby's are Cheddar Combos and Gummy Bears.  These aren't minor details, mind you.  Proper road snacks are totally necessary. - Right up there with getting the oil changed and the tire pressure checked.  Important stuff!

With our essential and less than healthy road snacks packed and ready, we managed to get our act together and get ourselves out of the house by about 7:30AM on the morning we were scheduled to hit the road. - Which I consider a major success, since getting out of the house at the time I hope to usually happens about 50% of the time.  I try.  It just doesn't usually work out the way I plan.  It might have something to do with the fact that I loathe waking up to an alarm.  Oh, and I'm lazy.  There's also that.  Especially when the alarm goes off before the sun even rises.  Needless to say, we grumpily hauled ourselves out of bed to finish packing the car and take care of all those last minute things that needed to be done in the house.  Did I mention it was still dark out?    

The first leg of the trip (which I've arbitrarily decided is about the first week on the road) took us on a less than efficient zig-zag up and across the east coast.  We're basically doing a little farewell tour and visiting friends and family along the way before we head up to the great white north.  We wish we could see everyone before we go, but it's just not possible, so we tried to squeeze as many visits as we could into this first part of the trip.  So far it looks something like this:

First we zigged, then we zagged...then we did it again.  And again.

Not exactly direct, right?  Our first stop after we left Key West was Tampa, where one of my sisters and lots of our friends live.  Hubby made a big pot of gumbo - which was phenomenal - he really outdid himself.  He's a terrific cook, and the gumbo was no exception.  We had a fun get together with some of my favorite people, who came by to see us off.  

Gumbo magic in progress

After Tampa, the next week was a whole mess of stops, including Deland, FL (to sell our truck to our friend's dad), Colquitt, GA, Hilton Head, SC, Indian Trail, NC, Salisbury, MD, Montclair, NJ, and Albany, NY.  Highlights from our visits definitely include the late night wine-fueled evening in North Carolina, when I brushed up on my gin playing skills with the siblings, and the delicious afternoon clam steam with the in-laws in upstate New York.  Nobody I know was boo-hooing like a baby before climbing back into the car to hit the road after saying goodbye to the family on our visit in North Carolina.  

It's going to be a hard adjustment getting used to not seeing my brother and sisters as often as I've been used to seeing them.  Which was usually twice a year, sometimes more.  I've been lobbying for visitors to Kodiak, but we'll see who ends up taking the trek.  It's not exactly close, easy, or affordable to get there.  I see lots of Skype time in my future!

Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  We'll call Cheety less than impressed.

The road trip so far has been kind of quick.  Each stop seems to go by really fast, and then we're on the road again before we know it.  After we leave Albany, we'll head west...and the REAL road trip begins.  Onward. 

Cheety was snoozing in his giant doggie nest almost
 the whole way. - He pretty much has the entire back seat.  Spoiled.