LIFE ON THE ROAD - ANN STYLE.

I've probably mentioned it about a hundred times so far, but life on the road with a friend is the best!  Today will be the six week mark since we left Ann's home in Sharon and started our epic journey.  And believe it or not two women can live together in 200 square feet and nary a cross word spoken.  As we settled into our adventure there was always the risk of undoing a 16 year friendship with too much togetherness - but it didn't happen.  We each have complimentary skills and abilities.

I, for instance, am a bit of a control freak, so I drove and pushed all the shopping carts.  Ann did most of the cooking and dishes and organizing of our limited storage space.  I was the teckie when it came to all our electronic gear and did much of the navigating.  Ann was the manager of backing into campsites and making u-turns.  I looked after turning on the propane while Ann plugged in the power each day.  I fixed stuff - WD40, my multi-tool and double sided tape were my favorite tools.  Ann managed the finances and the todo lists while I was the barbequer.  Ann was the ironer, however we tried to avoid clothes that needed ironing as much as possible.  I swore at Miss Hathaway while Ánn swore at her Mah Jong game.  I watched the gas gauge and Ann did most of the gas pumping.  It was the perfect match. 

To say she has been a trouper, is putting it mildly.  Having put up with snarly cats, the litter box, a dripping roof, dumping the sewer tanks, an overly sensitive smoke detector, she has been game for any adventure and always ready for a good belly laugh when things struck us funny.  It's not often, two people have this chance to get away, have so much fun, see so much of the country and remain the best of friends. I am truly grateful!

To say that someone up there is looking after us, is an understatement.  Yesterday in Lake Placid we encountered the remnants of the Lake Placid Iron Man competition that had taken place the previous day.  Thousands of people in Iron Man 2010 T-Shirts were limping around town and the traffic was almost gridlocked.  As we were driving along the main street, we suddenly hit something and then we realized that we had forgotten to put our steps up and they were sticking out about a foot.  We had hit a car, right in front of a gas station, so we pulled in to check out the damage.  Brian, the service station guy tried to fix the step which was bent out of shape and he also went next door to find the car's owner.  While fixing the step, he managed to gouge his finger (a cut that would require a couple of stitches).  The car's owner, a young guy with neon yellow hair, came along to see what had happened.  Fortunately, for us, he had been hit the day before and after taking a look, concluded that we had done no further damage to the vehicle.  Whew!  Thanks - whoever you are for watching over us.

Today, we're heading back to Canada through Kingston and then tomorrow we deliver Ann back home.  This leg of the journey will end, but we have soooo many great memories to enjoy and a whole new set of jokes that no one else will get - or even think is funny.  How lucky are we?

To be continued.....