Jan 24 - an (almost) easy trip

Everything went like clockwork, or almost.  Flying from Daytona Beach meant a quicker drive to the airport, close-by parking and generally easy access.  Of course the small airport also meant fewer services, i.e. no good coffee :).  Having only carry-on bags and having checked-in the day before made things even easier.

Everything was on time out of Daytona.  We landed early in Atlanta, waited a few minutes for our gate and then found that we had to move from E gates to B gates but the plane-train is quite efficient and we still had lots of time out of our 1-hour layover.  I took that opportunity to get my jeans out of my bag and change out of my shorts ... I'd noticed the 37F in the jetway !

Landing in Buffalo, another relatively easy airport, we walked to the Avis counter where I was informed that I was preferred (this time Sandy booked directly instead of using the carrier add-a-car option) so we walked to the booth, found our car, a Chevy Malibu, which Sandy rejected.  The nice guy at the booth then gave us a Ford Escape 4-wheel-drive, even better, and we were on our way ... almost.

Not too far down the road but far enough that we were on the highway, bang bang bang ... yikes.  I found a spot to pull over and checked the back and underneath but everything looked ok.  Perhaps we had just shed a piece of ice ?   Nope, underway again, bang bang bang.  Stopping again (I hate stopping on a highway), I figured out that the right rear wheel insert was loose and was catching the wind and banging.  When it really caught the wind it rubbed against the tire with a tell-tale noise.  Great. Well, I don't want to drive like this so we found an exit to turn around and head back. 

Long story short, we soon had a new, not-4-wheel-drive Escape, kind a $hit-brown color, and hit the road again.  We'd killed an hour.

Crossing the border was quick; no queue.  Where are you going etc questions are easy when you have nothing in the car.  Surely we popped up as having been through 10 days ago but no mention was made.  A short time later, Casablanca Blvd, we stopped for some lunch and then rolled on, getting to Parry Sound sometime after 4pm, picking up a few groceries and getting to Osprey Rd having just lost any lingering daylight.  C'est la vie.

Everything had been plowed -- 522, Osprey, our driveway -- but not, of course, our steps.  Having had a couple of warm/freeze cycles, the snow was piled up and crusty.  I worked my way down and soon we were in the house.  The temperature was up to the "comfort settings" 60F that I'd established long ago and called in to "welcome to your thermostat" earlier in the day.  Turning on the basement electric heaters and getting a fire going, in no time at all (ok, in about 5 hours) it was up to 67.  Everything was ship-shape and we had dinner - Sobey's pre-cooked chicken - sat by the fire, watched a little TV and turned in.

It's 7:30 a.m. now and just starting to get light outside.  I see the remains of our Christmas tree still sticking up out of the ice.  Fox prints are in the snow at the back door, without Cassie to bark at the fox.  I've had a couple of cappuccinos and breakfast.  Sandy is still sleeping.  She hadn't really fully recovered from her cold-or-whatever and yesterday did her in.  Hopefully a good night's sleep will help with that.

That's pretty much it.  I expect a quiet day here.  I did send an email to Art so that he'd know who the strange car belongs to, if he notices. 

Oh, that reminds me, at the border the lady asked where we lived - Florida - what is our status in the US - dual citizen, waving passports - who owns the car - Avis, flew into Buffalo etc. - she wasn't really friendly but efficient and brusque.

Onward !