the Yingling Circus rides again!

Full moon out at Mtn Plains Heritage Park

Okay, things are in crazy mode around the Yingling household as we prepare to take off to see the family back east day after tomorrow! I have all kinds of boxes and stuff lined up by the front door, ready to be loaded in the back of Rob’s truck so that we can get this show on the road. At least we are going in the middle of summer this time so I don’t have to worry about the different climates between here and there, it will all just be hot, hot, hot between Buffalo and Westminster. I still feel like we are taking our entire wardrobes. Rob is actually worse than me when it comes to clothes.  Well, that… and he has to take a cowboy hat and a pair of boots for just about every occasion! I tend to not take enough and he tends to take too much.

It will take us 2 ½ days to get there and we always make excellent tracks across the nation. On Friday, we’ll leave around 5 a.m. and make it all the way to Waterloo, Iowa. We’ve got a great route mapped out we take every time that keeps us from hitting any big cities except Indianapolis the entire way there. We go all the way across South Dakota (and it’s a BIG state) on I-90 and then part of Minnesota and then drop down I-35 into Iowa to catch I-80, then we finally catch up with I-70 around Indianapolis and that leads us practically to my parents.  The second night we’ll stay in Wheeling, West Virginia and then it’s just a morning’s drive into western Maryland to get to the folks.

Rob and I are great travelling companions, we always manage to have a blast.  He’s got a zillion cd’s all ready to go for our musical accompaniment and I’ve got bags of munchies to keep his tummy entertained. Thistle has the entire back seat of the truck to herself, complete with bones, toys and her little cooler she likes to drink out of while on trips.  She’s already become quite the seasoned traveler.

So, today, my assignment is to go wash the truck and vacuum out all the dog hair (well, we are at least going to START hairless), get the ice for the cooler and bring all the bags down for packing the truck. I also have to make one more stop at Big Horn Meat to get some more Happy Sticks to take back because I made the mistake of buying three packs of those for the trip last week and we already ate them.  Happy Sticks are big, juicy spiced Buffalo meat sticks they make here in town and they are awesome. I should have known not to get them ahead of time. I’ll have to hide them so Rob doesn’t eat them on the trip. He has a bit of a jerky/sausage fetish, I used to but I’m a vegetarian now. I have to wait until tomorrow to get the dry ice for the elk and lukanka that we are taking along, though, just to make sure it will keep things frozen throughout the trip.

Was talking to Mom yesterday and she has arranged it so that I’ll be able to see my grandmother, Dee-Honey (that’s what Rob and I call her as she always calls and says “Hi, it’s Dee, honey) who is actually my step-dad’s Mom, the first evening we get there on Sunday.  The family dynamics are a little unusual.  You see, my mom married Steve, my step-dad, when I was 17.  At the time, Mom was 37 and Steve was 27. So, Steve is really not even old enough to be my dad, he’s only 4 years older than hubby, Rob! That means Dee really isn’t old enough to be my grandmother, either, because Steve is her oldest son. Did you get all that? Mom and Steve met in law school while both attending U of Maryland back in the 70’s. Steve has been more of a dad, though, than my birth father ever was.  I just love him to pieces. He put up with a pretty angry teenager when they first got married and I’m still trying to make up for it with him 35 years later.

Mom, Becca, Me and Camille

Anyway, I’m getting really jazzed.  My aunt Becca, who is only a few years older and my cousin, Camille, who is 4 months younger than me (although she’s actually my Mom’s cousin) will be the first to arrive after we get there.  I have a feeling us women won’t get a lot of sleep that first night as we always have to stay up and yak forever. The rest of the family will trickle in after that. The only thing I hate about these visits is that Rob and I don’t get to spend very much time together.  His two sisters and Mom also live in Westminster and he’ll be spending most of his time out at his sister’s, where his Mom lives, while we’re there.  Last time we were there, I only got to see the sisters for about 15 minutes when I was picking him up. 

Okay, I’m probably boring you like crazy by now. I’ll catch you all up on the visit when I get back.  Keep your fingers crossed that my health decides to cooperate for the next couple of weeks.  My MS seems to be acting up and I’m taking my trusty cane along because my legs keep giving out on me at odd times. My darn tumors are also giving me fits, despite my being really good about my nutrition, I have a constant ache in my kidneys where they are pressing against some nerves right now. I was really hoping they’d have decreased in size by now, but they are taking their sweet time this go around. I may come back worse for wear because I told everyone not to worry about my dietary restrictions, they are just too hard for others to follow.  I’m taking along as many fresh fruits and veggies as I can to not be a pain in the butt for others but….

Okay, folks, see ya on the flip side!  Have a magnificent couple of weeks.  I’ll be posting on FB, but not on here.  Stay true, be nice and love others!!!

 Oh, just a side note...thank you all my readers all over the world!! Just looked at my stats and I hit over 20,000 reads from 16 countries!! A huge shout out to my friends in Israel and Australia, who are the bulk of the out of country readers!!