A Christmas Ship Comes Sailing In (A Cam and Luke TR) Completed 2/16 About This Page:

[Cam22]

Will the packing finally get done???

Pre-Update #3 Wednesday, December 3

I knew this day would be busy, but never dreamed I wouldn’t have any time whatsoever to get on the boards. I spent the morning getting things ready for the trip, including packing as much as I could in each suitcase minus what we’d need to get ready on Thursday. I volunteer on Wednesday from 1:00 to 4:00 at Care Net, a pregnancy resource center. This afternoon was very busy, so much so that I didn’t check out until 4:30. Afterwards, we went out to eat as I had made sure there wasn’t much left in the way of food before the trip. Before heading home, we filled up the Edge with gas at Sam’s Club for $2.58 a gallon. It was around 8:00 when we got back home, and we still had a wee bit of packing to do. By the time that was all done, it was time for bed. Thus no update at the time. I’m also sure that specific details have slipped from my memory since that was two weeks ago.

Day 1 – Thursday, December 4, 2014

My alarm sounded at 7:50 waking me from a sound sleep. I’d awaken in the wee hours due to my hand hurting, so by 7:50 I was in another deep sleep. When I got up, I discovered it was rainy so that explained the pain in my hand. As I got ready, I packed the last odds and ends. By 9:30 I was out the door, headed to my nail appointment. My appointment ran a little late because of three factors: the prior client arrived a bit past her time, I asked for a Christmasy art nail on each ring finger, and then a friend I hadn’t seen in a month was after me and wouldn’t quit telling me stories. I finally pulled myself away and made it home around 11:40.



Luke was very ready to leave by then as he had set the timers, unplugged everything that should be, taken out the trash, and then waited an extra half hour for me to get home. Together we packed the suitcases in the car fairly quickly. My turn at driving was first, so I’d have mainly familiar roads. But I was hungry, so before we could leave town. We headed to our usual beginning of the a trip spot, McDonald’s. I got a grilled chicken snack wrap ranch, which I get so often that we’ve labeled it “my usual.” Luke was budge friendly, getting a Buffalo McChicken sandwich for a mere dollar. We shared a large fry, and we both drank Cokes.

Our path took us on William H. Natcher Parkway to Bowling Green where we moved on to I-65 for Nashville. Once at Nashville, we joined I-24 to Chattanooga. My driving goal was to make between 2 ½ to 3 hours, bailing before Monteagle and Chattanooga. I was successful, not stopping until the 3 hour mark at a Stuckey’s seven miles from Monteagle. We made a bio break at Monteagle, got another drink for Luke (Diet Dr. Pepper), and purchased 2 small bags of chocolate covered peanuts for snacking. I those! The temperature when we left home was 36 degrees. By Stuckey’s the temperature was a balmy 68 degrees; 22 degrees warmer. Cool! By the way, I wasn’t really stiff or uncomfortable when I climbed out of the Edge. WooHoo!

Luke took over the pilot’s job. We made a good team as I prefer driving the boring sections while he enjoys all the interesting, and at least to me, scary parts. Very congested in and around Chattanooga. This city and especially the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hilton were part of our honeymoon. At one point Luke told me to check out the license plate of the car in front of us. It began with CAM.

Around 6:20 EST we stopped at the Kennesaw exit to refuel both us and the Edge. We like to try places we don’t have at home. Tonight we found Tilted Kilt, which I can best described as a Scotch Irish Hooters. Luke had the Inferno Burger with fries and I had the Old-Fashioned Irish Stew with garlic bread. Both were quite delicious. We stopped at the BP down the road on the way back to I-75, paying $2.63 per gallon. We were heading south again by 7:19.





These were taken with my iPhone, which never look as good as my DSLR.

With 7 lanes to facilitate traffic flow, Atlanta, especially after dark, is simply a messy chaotic nightmare. But Luke handled it very well. Finally, at 9:00 EST we had arrived at our resting place for the night – Best Western Riverside Inn, room 231. The room was clean and spacious. We drove around to park near our room, taking in 2 small duffels, my Vera Bradley Weekender, and VB backpack.







While Luke tried to find Thursday night football, which never happened, I got out our clothes for tomorrow and set the cell phone alarm for 6:45. My motion sickness patches were supposed to be in one of these bags, but after searching each one thoroughly multiple times, I could not find them. Hopefully, I had accidentally put them in one of the other bags. If not, we’ll have to stop somewhere tomorrow to get some Bonine. I read until 10:50 and then it was dream time.

Christmas CD Challenge: 10 complete CDs finished + 7 tracks on CD #11

NEXT: Where are we? Oh yeah!