Dec 12/13 - ok, so I'm cheap

That's nothing new.

I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up a couple of items, including some luncheon meat. I buy those little rolled hams or turkey hunks. Well, I noticed that they were $4.45 per pound while the whole ham was $1.50 per pound. So, the little rolled ham cost just over $10, as did the entire ham ! So ... I bought the entire ham.

What I did next was seal the ham in a couple of layers of foil and put it on the grill for 4 hours on low (yes, occasionally I cook on low !). In fact, I put the ham in the center of the grill while the side burners were on low, so there wasn't much direct heat.

I lost about 1/3 of the weight cooking off the fat and water but it's still a great deal. Besides -- the cooked ham tastes better than the rolled ham !

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Packed on the 12th, rolled on the 13th. We're now in Beckley WV.

It rained all day on the 12th. We both went to the gym, which was about the extent of our outings for the day. I did all my usual backups, synchronizing files on three disk drives -- one that stays and two that travel with me.

I talked to Riley, who called Dolly (I didn't have her number) and she stopped by after work to pick up papayas. I'd boxed up what we were taking with us, hopefully they are cool enough in the car right now to not get too mushy.

We head ham for dinner so it's doing double duty. I'm going to do another when we get up north.

It was an easy drive to Beckley, arriving around 6:45. We had packed sandwiches, ham for me and egg for Sandy. That's about the only time that she has egg sandwiches. Today we'll likely stop at a Subway.

Abby is feeling under the weather. The phrase "dragging her tail" is apt, for that's the way that she's been walking. It's odd to not see her tail up and wagging. Sandy took her to the vet and she gave a yip when he tried to check out her hindquarters, so he thinks that somehow she's had some soft tissue damage, vs bone. He said that he could xray but it likely wouldn't show anything. He gave her a steroid shot and provided some steroid pills that should help with healing. It wouldn't be a good time for her to have a drug test ! WADA wouldn't approve !

She was doing better yesterday, our travel day, so hopefully she's on the mend.

Truck traffic was really heavy on I77. I don't remember ever seeing it this bad. Is that a sign that the economy is improving ? Is Tuesday a big travel day ? I'm sure that we've travelled on a Tuesday before.

As I was getting to Beckley I was reminded of my first trip through here with Arlene. We'd been to Florida for Christmas, the cost of the flight being the gift from my parents. Everyone else flew. Arlene and I opted to drive and use the money for other things.

We had driven south on I75, which was the only way that I knew how to get to Florida other than I95. From Toronto we drove to Detroit and then south all the way on I75. It's a long trip because I75 adds 200 miles to our current route and going to South Florida adds another 250 miles. When we were in Florida talking about the return trip, however, Jack and Dolores Robinson told us about the I95/I26/I77/I79 route. I77 wasn't completed though and we had to take 21 in SC between Rock Hill and Columbia and I77 through WV, the fledgling WV Turnpike, was a mess of construction.

The other memorable thing about the trip was my front wheel bearing which we could hear growling. I knew that there was a problem and had repacked the bearing in Florida and it rolled happily until we were on I90 between Erie PA And Buffalo. It was pouring rain and even though the Honda Civic wasn't all that well soundproofed, we could hear the bearing over the rain. I remember driving along well under the speed limit hoping that it wouldn't give way. Sure enough, we got home -- Arlene to her apartment in Mississauga and me to Toronto's east end. A couple of days later I installed new bearings, which was quite easy, much like changing the bearings in a trailer.

There are two more things that I remember about that trip. We drove straight through; I did all the driving, keeping myself awake eating pretzels. I ate so many salty pretzels that my mouth was full of cankers for a few days afterwards. The other thing was that I picked up Arlene after she finished work at Hazelton Lanes, downtown Toronto, for the trip south. While waiting for her I checked my oil and there wasn't any on the dipstick. Duh. I bought a couple of quarts and topped it up. Why I remember that, I don't know. Some things just stick with you.

We ate at Ruby Tuesday here in Beckley within walking distance of our hotel, but we didn't walk because Sandy didn't like walking along the busy road. Actually we didn't realize how close it was -- 100 yards of shoulder and across a gas station would have gotten us there. Sandy had barbecue chicken and the salad bar; I had salmon and the salad bar. The salmon was ok but unremarkable. The veggies, however, were interesting. Sandy had mashed cauliflower -- ever tried that ? -- with some cheese mashed into it. Interesting. I guess that you could mash any number of vegetables if you cook them long enough ! I had spaghetti squash. We both had grilled zucchini.

Today, once Sandy wakes up, we'll roll on to Stef's. That's a shorter drive than the one just completed. The car, knock on wood, is purring along contentedly, quiet (no wheel bearing sounds), responsive (engine temperature mid range where it's supposed to be(. I think that the outside temp is in the 40's and had the thermostat been stuck open, we might not have had any heat.

I was outside this a.m. getting the laptop and it's like a SUV car lot. Every shape, size and make that you can imagine is out there. In this context, ours is small. The real roadies travel BIG. The Suburban is still a large vehicle but it's not the largest or at least there are others the same size. The Escalade seems popular, for instance, making ours seem like one of those little Kia jobs. I've got more research to do. I'm not all that convinced that we need to go German, but all of these vehicles are pricey. The big difference, I think, is that maintenance of these North American vehicles is cheaper and more accessible on the road ... although I've clearly done ok with the X5.

Anyhoo ... it's time to finish my coffee ... rustle a little bit so that Sandy awakens ...

Onward !