Day 1 - November 4, Ottawa to Montoursville Pennsylvania
It took days of preparations to get to the point that we could just shut the front door in Ottawa and start the trip.
There was raking and bagging bags of leaves. The leave just kept on coming each day. A day trip to go to the lake was needed to get a couple of items that ended up there but were needed for the trip. More leaves to rake there. There was a detailed list to pack up Teddy and his stuff. There was another list for the sole fish at home. No the fish did not leave home but I fixed in advance a month's worth of food for it in little cut up egg cartons. Then it is easy to just drop the contents of a little egg cup into the tank each day. Then there was laundry to do, the arrangements the mail, the newspapers, the appointments etc etc. It is not easy leaving home for any length of time. Packing up the car is another big task. Then winter clothes had to be packed as we are coming back in colder weather and yet Fort Worth`s temperature last night was 22 degrees. So summer clothes and footwear are needed.
We set out in the sunshine and it was sunny all day on our drive. We made good time getting to the bypass road around Syracuse, New York. But then the GPS went nuts and kept directing us to go into Syracuse - we did not and continued to head south. We went through some major mountain passes and I was amazed that there was colour in the hills. Many trees still had their leaves. The colours in the sunshine were wonderful. No bright reds but many bright yellows, rust-reds and in between. There was lots of green but mostly those trees were coniferous. I know we should have taken some photos but we will tomorrow. Pennsylvania was particularly stunning. There were Red-tailed Hawks along the interstate and the ubiquitous Canada Geese everywhere. Blue Jays and European Starlings were also in large groups and numbers.
The temperature was 10 degrees for most of the day and each time we stopped, I got out and walked as much as I could. I thought of Barb Robertson as we actually drove by the immediate turnoff for Sapsucker Woods (Cornell Ornithology Lab) and I wish we could have turned in but it caught me off guard and from there one starts to descend from higher ground to a low valley. Plus we had to keep moving south.
We have had our supper - no splash for our first supper - note to self to buy some wine tomorrow. We are just chilling right now and just finished watching a movie, Fantastic Beasts and where to fnd them. It was great.
So the first day is done and we are good. In the course of the day, my mind kept ticking off stuff that I packed and so far I have remember 3 things that I forgot to take and will need on the trip. Why does the mind do that? Why can't I just be surprised at the moment I start looking through our stuff for the item. Nope my mind has to go through some list named, "stuff I forgot and can no nothing about it now". Let me be surprised instead.
There was raking and bagging bags of leaves. The leave just kept on coming each day. A day trip to go to the lake was needed to get a couple of items that ended up there but were needed for the trip. More leaves to rake there. There was a detailed list to pack up Teddy and his stuff. There was another list for the sole fish at home. No the fish did not leave home but I fixed in advance a month's worth of food for it in little cut up egg cartons. Then it is easy to just drop the contents of a little egg cup into the tank each day. Then there was laundry to do, the arrangements the mail, the newspapers, the appointments etc etc. It is not easy leaving home for any length of time. Packing up the car is another big task. Then winter clothes had to be packed as we are coming back in colder weather and yet Fort Worth`s temperature last night was 22 degrees. So summer clothes and footwear are needed.
We set out in the sunshine and it was sunny all day on our drive. We made good time getting to the bypass road around Syracuse, New York. But then the GPS went nuts and kept directing us to go into Syracuse - we did not and continued to head south. We went through some major mountain passes and I was amazed that there was colour in the hills. Many trees still had their leaves. The colours in the sunshine were wonderful. No bright reds but many bright yellows, rust-reds and in between. There was lots of green but mostly those trees were coniferous. I know we should have taken some photos but we will tomorrow. Pennsylvania was particularly stunning. There were Red-tailed Hawks along the interstate and the ubiquitous Canada Geese everywhere. Blue Jays and European Starlings were also in large groups and numbers.
The temperature was 10 degrees for most of the day and each time we stopped, I got out and walked as much as I could. I thought of Barb Robertson as we actually drove by the immediate turnoff for Sapsucker Woods (Cornell Ornithology Lab) and I wish we could have turned in but it caught me off guard and from there one starts to descend from higher ground to a low valley. Plus we had to keep moving south.
We have had our supper - no splash for our first supper - note to self to buy some wine tomorrow. We are just chilling right now and just finished watching a movie, Fantastic Beasts and where to fnd them. It was great.
So the first day is done and we are good. In the course of the day, my mind kept ticking off stuff that I packed and so far I have remember 3 things that I forgot to take and will need on the trip. Why does the mind do that? Why can't I just be surprised at the moment I start looking through our stuff for the item. Nope my mind has to go through some list named, "stuff I forgot and can no nothing about it now". Let me be surprised instead.
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