Northern detour

After covering nearly 1100 miles in our first two marathon days of driving, we've taken it a bit easier the last two, covering a (comparatively) measly 400 miles. Yesterday we cruised along the back roads of northern New York state to spend Memorial Day with friends who've recently relocated to a scenic town on the shores of Lake Ontario; they treated us to a classic American cookout, since this will be our last holiday in the US for a while. Burgers and dogs on the grill, devilled eggs, and potato and bean salads; plus possibly the best homemade salsa I've ever had; the best cosmo, hands down; and Italian-coffee-bar-worthy coffee this morning to wake me up after last night's festivities. It was just what I needed after an overdose of mediocre road food.

Today we headed north again, crossing the border into Canada, and heading for DP's old stomping ground: Montreal, because he can't get within 200 miles of the place and not drop in. He did two of his degrees here, so it was his second home for a long time, and my regular weekend and vacation destination. We wandered around the old neighborhood, showed Miss B some of the landmarks of our student years, had some really good Chinese food for dinner, and even found my favorite Canadian sweet treat (cannelle classique svp!) for a surprise dessert. Definitely a worthwhile detour.

Cross country

Baby, if you've ever wondered/wondered whatever became of me...

Packing and loading have been successfully completed, and we're now on to Phase 3: driving cross country to Boston for a visit before heading overseas, dropping in on various people along the way. We left Missouri yesterday heading east, and crossed Illinois and Indiana; then stopped overnight in Louisville, Kentucky to catch up with friends we haven't seen since we were all living in England 13 years ago. Then today, after a leisurely and tasty breakfast, we turned northeast and trekked across Kentucky and Ohio, a corner of northwestern Pennsylvania, and into upstate New York, stopping for the night in Buffalo.

Breakfast was the high point of the day, eating-wise; if you want to eat well on US road trips, you either really have to do your homework before setting off, or else be prepared to wander off the beaten path. I ran out of time to do the homework, and with 500 miles to cover today, there wasn't much wiggle room for wandering. Luckily the schedule eases up from tomorrow, so I'm hoping to have some eating adventures to report soon. Until then, I'll be relying on the Mother of All Road Trip Food Bags to provide treats. 

Phase 2

A surprise diversion in the midst of my two-day moving extravaganza came this morning, just when I was expecting the truck and loaders to arrive. Instead I got the sod guys, who we finally got around to scheduling to repair the damage done by having the sewer pipe replaced back in March. They had told us to expect them early next week, when we would have already been on the road, but then they found a chunk of time to fit our little job in today. (They were on their way to re-sod a baseball field next - quite a bit bigger (and more lucrative) than my back lawn!) It was such a treat for me to see it like this; after 2+ months of looking at a dried-out mud plain, today I could look up from my labors and refresh my senses with the sight of a lush, velvety carpet of green. It made the back yard look very inviting, and made me feel very sad that I wouldn't be around to enjoy it fully this summer. And it highlighted one of the big lessons I'll be taking away from living here: don't wait until you're getting ready to leave to make your house look its best so you can impress other people. Make it look its best so you can enjoy it while you're there. Something I'll try hard to remember, and apply, when we find our next house and all our stuff reappears.