Monkling's Blog

On our 1/3 cross country road trip, we had exactly 2 nice days. Those were the first 2 days during our drive through Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia ending in the very beginning of Kentucky. Oh, and let me tell you! The drive was pure pleasure. Not only did we not hit any traffic but the speed limit was 70. I really like driving 70 mph!

But then the rains came. And stayed. It rained for the entire time we were visiting my friend and it rained for the entire trip home. The rain also apparently followed us home because it started raining tonight and it’s supposed to continue tomorrow.

There was a bright spot, though. Actually several. While in Kentucky, every time we had to get out of the car to go someplace, the rain stopped. We did not get rained on while going to Moonlite BBQ or the bookstore.

The biggest parting of the waters was truly amazing. One of the things we really wanted to do on this trip, the highlight we had been planning on, was to go out on my friends’ boat. We would bring a bottle of champagne and toast the launching of our new company. I brought a bottle of really good Long Island champagne for the occasion.

That morning it was raining. We decided to take a chance and got into the car. It rained for the hour & a half drive all the way to the lake. Then it stopped. We had time for a 3 hour tour. (It was about 3 hours but I didn’t make the Gilligan connection until speaking to my friend this afternoon.) We rode around the lake. We had lunch in the lodge. We toasted. We saw herons. We went back to the dock and covered up the boat. As we got back in the car, it started raining again & continued to rain on the entire drive back home. It cleared up just for us to be able to do our boat champagne toast.

I also discovered hot tubs. Lou had told me to pack the bathing suits. I forgot. Then I said, “Well what’s the big deal about a hot tub?” Well we managed to wrangle some suitable clothing and tried out the hot tub. Oh, man!! I am in love. The rain held out for us to be able to use it 3 nights out of the 4 we were there. I want to buy one and put it in the middle of my living room.

I haven’t kept y’all up with our trip. That’s because… uh, well we were busy having fun in Kentucky. And then, on the road back, Internet access wasn’t so great. But finally I am here with some more stories about our 1/3 cross country trip.

On Wednesday we took a ride out to a bookstore because Frank wanted to pick up a book about programming for the iPhone. As we’re getting out of the car, a man is getting out of his and walking just ahead of us into the bookstore. He’s dressed in a brown robe. He holds the door for us and Frank asks him what order he belongs to. We chat for a few minutes, mentioning that our son is in the seminary.

It turns out he is visiting his family who live in the exact same town that our friends live in, exactly where we are visiting. We go our separate ways.

That’s when Lou starts saying, “I can’t believe it! I’m with Monkling and I see a monk!”

I tried explaining to her that he’s not a monk, that he is either a priest or a brother and a Franciscan Missionary of the Eternal Word and his brown robe is Franciscan. She wouldn’t hear any of it.

“No. He is wearing a brown monk’s robe. He is a monk!” She got the biggest kick out of it.

It was a pretty big coincidence, though, that he was there visiting his family at the exact same time I was there visiting my friend and that we ran into him in a store. And that town in Kentucky isn’t all that huge so there’s a pretty good chance Lou knows his family.

On Monday we made it into Kentucky. Our first stop was in Berea to visit Gin.  I’ve been waiting to meet Gin in person for the longest time! Since I am not on my computer, I can’t look up the url to Gin’s website but I think I have it in my sidebar here. Y’all need to take a look at it because her stuff is amazing. Her house is like an art gallery – filled with both her works and the works of her artisan friends. Baskets woven into pieces of art, paper sculptures… and I am so mad at myself for forgetting to bring the cable for my camera because there should be photos here. I’ll just have to post them after I get home. 

After way too short a visit, we hopped into the car to head to Western Kentucky to spend a few days with our friends who are also our new business partners. I love being out here. Not only is it just great getting to spent time with Lou & Bill but it’s just so pretty out here. 

I am kinda disappointed in the weather, though. We can’t go out to Lou’s parents’ house to shoot today because it’s raining. It had better not rain tomorrow. We have plans to go out on their boat. 

The rain did not ruin yesterday, though. We did get to eat at the best BBQ place on earth: Moonlite in Owensboro. I tried mutton. It was way better than I thought it would be. I’m not quite sure why I thought it wouldn’t be good. Maybe it’s just something about the word ‘mutton’ but it was real good.    

This morning we were ready for Mass a couple of hours before it was actually time for Mass. We decided to set out early, just in case we had a hard time finding the Church. It was exactly 5 minutes away from our hotel. On a huge hill. We decided to park near the Church and do some exploring.

When picking a direction to wander, we decided to go downhill. That may not have been the wisest choice since we would have to climb back up but that direction looked interesting.

As we walked down the hill, we heard music. At first we thought it was coming from one of the nearby churches. Then, as we got closer, we realized it was country music. Some guy was singing about a big green tractor.

At the bottom of the hill was a canal and railroad tracks. On the other side of the tracks was a guy wearing a cowboy hat, playing a guitar and singing. In back of him, for about a 3 block span was a street fair. The streets were cobblestone, there were fountains and places to eat. Perfect! Now we knew where to go for lunch after Mass.

Then it was time to leave Maryland and head towards Kentucky. As we were driving off, I attempted to call Katy. She couldn’t hear me. We were now driving through West Virginia. There were mountains. I figured that was the cause of the cellphone troubles. No problem. I’d just try again after we passes through the mountains. Yeah. Great plan except we crossed the entire state through the mountains. By the time I was able to call, we had already made it to our hotel, just over the border into Ashland, KY.

We met up with Katy for dinner. I walked away with a jar of red pepper jelly and she now has a bottle of Long Island wine.

Oh, and we found out they do not serve alcohol in KY on a Sunday.

First I must say this is the first time ever that I drove for over 5 hours and did not hit a single spot of traffic. I am still amazed.

We arrived in Gettysburg in time for lunch. I said hello to Lincoln. He was right there on the sidewalk. I also saw some swords and guns from the Civil War era that my son would have loved if only I had a spare $1,000 or so.

On our way out of Gettysburg, we kept passing signs that advertised Mr. Ed’s Elephant Museum. We sadly came upon the actual museum quite suddenly and so, were unable to stop. It didn’t seem to be a terribly large building so I’m thinking they don’t have too many elephants in there.

We arrived at our hotel in MD. Naturally, what with the state being known for crab, we had to have crabcakes for dinner at the Crabby Pig.

Back in July we met an Archbishop from Australia who had the misfortune to have stayed in a hotel where he was bitten by bedbugs. Because of that, I now check the mattress whenever we stay in a hotel. I did the check here. I did not find any bedbugs. I did, however, find a small can at the foot of the bed. It had the word “tingly” on the label. Not quite what I expected to find!

Tomorrow we head into KY where we will be meeting Katy for dinner. I hope she won’t be too disappointed with her first face to face with a blog/internet person.

Tomorrow we start out on a little adventure. Theresa will have her own adventures here at the house. Well, hopefully she won’t have any adventures at all. We want everything to be calm and the dog to behave and continue being Miracle Dog.

But getting back to my adventure – we are aiming to leave by 8 a.m. (Okay, you can stop laughing!) The strategy for leaving at that time is we will be able to get out of the city before any danger of real traffic. We will head towards Gettysburg, PA where we will stop for lunch and will spend a little time just checking it out.

Next we continue on to the western part of Maryland where we’ll crash for the night. There will be Internet access so I will hopefully have some stories, all of which had better be good ones.

And keep in mind, the first thing I’m really looking forward to is Sunday & meeting up with someone for dinner…. You’ll just have to check in again to see who I’m meeting for dinner. (No fair giving it away, for those of you who know!)

Blame my sister (& my brother in-law) for this one:

On Monday, I went out to lunch with some friends. We somehow got onto the conversation of exercise, gyms, yoga… I don’t much like formal exercise so I innocently mentioned that. “I just like walking.”

Turns out that seems to be an agreeable pastime for my friends, as well, so we’ve decided to head out to a local park a few times a week and walk. Today was the first day. Only 2 of us could make it today but that was good. We went on some trails through the woods. (I do like my shade if I’m gonna walk.) It was a pleasant walk & I went back home, happy with the knowledge that, for a change, I got up off my butt & did something. Happier, still, that I didn’t have to walk on my own, because that is so boring.

Later on in the afternoon, I decided I needed to go over to the drugstore. It’s… I don’t know, maybe 7 blocks away. (Kinda hard to tell exactly how far because the stores are all on one really long block.) I made my purchases and paid. The cashier says, “Oh, since you spent $20, you get free water.” She points behind me. I’m thinking a bottle of water. Nope. It’s a small case: 12 16 oz. bottles.

“But I walked,” I said, thinking there was no way I wanted to carry that home.

“That’s okay. I’ll just put it in a shopping bag.”

Off I went, carrying my water, cradled in my arms, because that shopping bag so wanted to slice my hand into 2 pieces!

I had no idea when I got up this morning that weight lifting was on the agenda for the day.

Or… how to drive a person insane.

This week the dog was clearly in pain. Not just his back legs, which has always been a bit of an issue but he was limping, favoring one of his front paws, as well. He could barely get up & I had to help him.

I spoke to darling daughter. She wants to be with him when we take him in to put him down. I understand that. I would feel the same way in her place. So, I told her I’d wait until the weekend. When she came home yesterday, he was fine. Better than fine. I can’t remember the last time he seems to walk so well.

So – how can we go walking into a vet office when he seems fine? Personally I am real tired of the see-saw. Seriously tired. Either be fine or not. Don’t keep going back and forth, for Pete’s sake!

And so we carry on…

The one good point about it is we will not have to board him for our upcoming trip. Theresa & whoever she brings will dog sit & house sit while we go on a little road trip. I guess there’s always a bright side to everything. Rather than an empty house, it’ll be filled up with college kids & dog fur.

Darling husband is currently falling asleep on the couch in the living room. The man gets, on average, maybe 5 hours of sleep a night if he’s lucky. So I yell over to him, “Go to bed!”

“I will. In a minute. I’m resting.”

Me: “There doesn’t seem much point in that.”

“It’s like having appetizers before dinner.”