HOme Sweet HOme - late Monday night
I checked the US weather forecast for the coming week on Thanksgiving Thursday. We had to be back on the 29th of November at the latest.
The weather forecast for the mid was for a snow storm which they got (Chicago got 8 inches) on the weekend and which could have headed east. Eastern Ontario also was not good with snow predicted for Monday and Tuesday. So Friday we packed up, said a sad farewell to the kids near Fort Hood and took a perpendicular route to Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio to mitigate the chance of getting stuck in a storm for a couple of days. Here we are in Kentucky.
On the route we took, we only had to cross a corner of Pennsylvania which was a big change from the whole day on the trip down. Once driving home from Florida, Pennsylania was difficult to get through, every mountain pass had a snowstorm with little visibility and mobility. Then we would drive out into dry pavement and sunshine. This happened at least four times, so I did not want to go through Pennsylvania in winter conditions.
There was one day we drove 1000 km from Elizabethtown to New York State. We had a clear warm day that day and we went through Lewisville, Cincinnati, Columbus and skirted Cleveland. It was just a lucky day. Then we came to New York State. We wanted to stay south of Lake Ontario hoping for some milder temperatures for possibly no snow to allow us to get home.
We went through Buffalo and stayed in Battavia off the New York Toll Road just east of Buffalo. The next day we woke up, it was pouring rain and it did not let up until we pulled into our driveway at home. As we headed north on the I81 in the pouring rain, there were bits of snow along the bush along the road. When we reached the 401 there was a bit more snow, but it was on the 416 that there was snow and snow banks along the highway. The driving was fine other than the pouring rain and we stopped in Watertown for several hours to shop. We picked up Teddy from BB`s, he was so excited to see us but I think he was sad to leave his buddy Ham. We stopped for some new kibble for Teddy on the way home and then HOME! YAY!
We are so lucky we arrived home when we did. When we got up this was the view from the third floor and it snowed all day, the slushy messy kind.
The mileage on our trip was 6,840 km which is 4,250 miles. Most of it is highway mileage. We did not go far in Fort Worth but a bit so maybe a couple hundred km in town there. The rest is all intense highway driving. When we got on the 401 to come home it was a joke, the odd truck and a couple of cars around. I guess with 10 times the population of Canada, the US has 10 times the traffic and the US roads are excellent, by far better than ours. It will be a while before I head out on a road trip again.
So were arrived two days early and if the weather forecast been better we would have stopped somewhere interesting and did a touring day. But not this time. I wish I could have stayed longer as Cassi had a demanding week right now but she did have days off to relax a bit and study, so hopefully she will be fine. We will miss Lu and the kids!
The weather forecast for the mid was for a snow storm which they got (Chicago got 8 inches) on the weekend and which could have headed east. Eastern Ontario also was not good with snow predicted for Monday and Tuesday. So Friday we packed up, said a sad farewell to the kids near Fort Hood and took a perpendicular route to Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio to mitigate the chance of getting stuck in a storm for a couple of days. Here we are in Kentucky.
On the route we took, we only had to cross a corner of Pennsylvania which was a big change from the whole day on the trip down. Once driving home from Florida, Pennsylania was difficult to get through, every mountain pass had a snowstorm with little visibility and mobility. Then we would drive out into dry pavement and sunshine. This happened at least four times, so I did not want to go through Pennsylvania in winter conditions.
There was one day we drove 1000 km from Elizabethtown to New York State. We had a clear warm day that day and we went through Lewisville, Cincinnati, Columbus and skirted Cleveland. It was just a lucky day. Then we came to New York State. We wanted to stay south of Lake Ontario hoping for some milder temperatures for possibly no snow to allow us to get home.
We went through Buffalo and stayed in Battavia off the New York Toll Road just east of Buffalo. The next day we woke up, it was pouring rain and it did not let up until we pulled into our driveway at home. As we headed north on the I81 in the pouring rain, there were bits of snow along the bush along the road. When we reached the 401 there was a bit more snow, but it was on the 416 that there was snow and snow banks along the highway. The driving was fine other than the pouring rain and we stopped in Watertown for several hours to shop. We picked up Teddy from BB`s, he was so excited to see us but I think he was sad to leave his buddy Ham. We stopped for some new kibble for Teddy on the way home and then HOME! YAY!
We are so lucky we arrived home when we did. When we got up this was the view from the third floor and it snowed all day, the slushy messy kind.
The mileage on our trip was 6,840 km which is 4,250 miles. Most of it is highway mileage. We did not go far in Fort Worth but a bit so maybe a couple hundred km in town there. The rest is all intense highway driving. When we got on the 401 to come home it was a joke, the odd truck and a couple of cars around. I guess with 10 times the population of Canada, the US has 10 times the traffic and the US roads are excellent, by far better than ours. It will be a while before I head out on a road trip again.
So were arrived two days early and if the weather forecast been better we would have stopped somewhere interesting and did a touring day. But not this time. I wish I could have stayed longer as Cassi had a demanding week right now but she did have days off to relax a bit and study, so hopefully she will be fine. We will miss Lu and the kids!
Comments
Post a Comment