Meanwhile, 3,259 miles later…

Well, THAT was epic!

Ten and I left Newburgh, New York yesterday morning after 45 minutes of laps in the hotel pool. Ya know, these motor inn pools are nowhere near Olympic length BUT they’re wonderfully convenient. Naturally, I now want one for here in Valhalla. OR...A couple I knew, who’d come into a mega load of bucks, had one of those endless pools installed. Perfect size for here at home. Also too…ENVY!

In any case, at the last minute we decided to detour up to Hoosick Falls – meet my wonderful Helen for lunch-y in Bennington. YES this added a few hours drive time to the very last day of Ten and Donna’s Excellent Adventure. oof! After two and a half weeks and over 3,000 miles of driving, the travel bloom is kinda off the touring rose BUT how could we resist? (Hint: we couldn't)

Eschewing highways, for the most part, in rainy (The first of the entire trip!), mega foggy weather, we crawled up New York state’s eastern border. It was beautiful. After a quick but fab repast at the cozy Madison Brew Pub (and talented lunch counter!), we dropped down into Massachusetts (ZOMG, finally in my home state!!!) and began making our way east. Route 2, the Mohawk Trail, in western Mass is serpentine and mondo hilly – mountainous even. Stunningly gorgeous in other words. Also, with a solid blanket of fog, it was a spectacularly dodgy, slow drive. Still, it was absolutely brill – maybe, what with the desperately evocative pea soup mist (with mountains and streams popping out to say quick hellos), it was even MORE SO.

Ya know, Ten did ALL the driving on this trip. Yup, all 3,259 miles. Finishing the journey, running down (and up!) those intensely curvaceous and thin mountain roads, in yesterday’s decidedly challenging fog and rain was awe inspiring. My man, just FYI, is a total road warrior.

We got back into the Boston area just in time for Friday evening rush hour. Having already been in transit for six+ hours, I was now firmly ensconced in the High Crankies (I'm such a treat!). Ten was calm as hell. HOW does he do this?! I texted a constant stream of kvetchiness to Jen (poor thing) as we crawled down 95S and up 93N. Our exit, eventually – almost shockingly, came into sight.

The world was def foggy and WAY out of focus yesterday.

And then we pulled into Valhalla's driveway. I exploded out the truck's door and ran into the house to see my beautiful kitten. Amazingly, she gave me ZERO grief for being away these past two and a half weeks. In fact, instead of the expected passive aggressive cold shoulder, she was all over me like a keyed up puppy.


Even more homecoming awesomeness – Oni whipped up a fabulous, restorative dinner of beans, rice, Brussels sprouts and sausage (for the carnivores amongst us) and Jen crafted a couple of her tremendous, calming hot toddies.

Christ it’s good to be home.

My little Welcome Wagon