On the road

Sorry for not posting sooner!

We are in  Dublin Virginia tonight, it's almost 9 PM. We've been up since 3 AM, so it's about time to call it a night. And if this post makes no sense whatsoever, you'll know why.

Every year we go to Syracuse NY for Valentine's day. Kevin books his appointments with the VA there for this time of year, so that we can hit some of our favorite restaurants there and enjoy some quality time together. 

We also had to pick up the new engine we bought from Pennsylvania for our tractor. Did I ever mention the engine block cracked? I probably didn't because it was pretty awful. While it is leaking oil, it's nothing major right now. It will just get worse and cannot be fixed though -so that left us with two options: New engine. New tractor. Pay off the debt of either for a loooong time. Kevin searched long and hard for a used engine and the one he found in PA was literally the only one he ever found anywhere while searching. The price was a whole lot better than a new tractor or a brand new engine, so we bought it. We were planning on running down to Harrisburg to pick it up, but the shop down there let us know they could ship it to Syracuse for less than one tank of gas would cost. So that sounded like a really good idea to us. 

But some other things happened in the meantime which turned our two day trip into an unexpected quick run down to Florida to see Kevin's brother and his wife, and family. It was important for us to go soon, and with spring coming and maple syrup time, and only a month before my goats are due, it was now or never. So we decided to just carry on South from Syracuse.

We don't have our camper and I had to leave the boys at home - I've never left them for more than two nights so this is a bit traumatizing for them and probably worse for me. I'm sure they are just fine at home with Jim, but I miss them terribly. I also miss our camper. As strange as it might sound (some of you might relate however) I'd much rather be camping than staying in hotels. And I'm not talking about our big "camper" as in the 5th wheel. I miss our truck camper. That thing is so handy. It's got all the comforts of home, if small, and the boys love it. It's winterized though and since we decided to make this trip on such a whim, we didn't have time to get that organized. Tonight we thought we'd be smart and stop driving early, around 5, so we could get dinner and relax. The first hotel put us in a room that had a crack in the bathroom ceiling (and I'm not talking about a super cheap place either) and there was water dripping out of the hole, right onto the toilet. So obviously that didn't work out. Then three other hotels right next to it were completely full because every High School kid in the State of Virginia is there for a track and swimming meet up.

Finally we ended up finding out 20 miles away there was a nice hotel with a room available, so we drove here... all the while carrying 350 pounds of cast iron engine in the back of the truck, that is now traveling even further than ever intended.

Next time we will bring the camper with us. There is so much to see down here. Georgia, N & S Carolina, Florida, are all new States for me and obviously there is so much history here, in Virginia as well. I'd like to come back with our camper and the boys and spend a little time camping and exploring some of the parks and battlefields. We did a short trip to Antietam and Gettysburg in 2008 and it was amazing.

Plus in my imagination sometimes I live in an old Plantation house in Georgia and it's full of goats. And Paula Deen comes over and cooks for us all.

We'll be in Savannah Georgia tomorrow night and then we'll carry on to Ocala Florida to spend a couple days with family before turning around and heading back to the farm.

I will check in again and have pictures to share, but for now, I'm falling asleep!

Goodnight all!