It's been a day..... and I for one --am glad it's essentially done.

It started off with me oversleeping at the hotel... rushing around to get out...and having a headache.

We got packed and on the road... and had 2 awful episodes on the Ohio turnpike right away... one with a huge tractor trailer carrying a load of construction equipment; who decided to suddenly cross 2 lanes of traffic to get in front of me and take a sharp turn onto an exit. Then... I got cut-off by a lady (on the phone)... driving a huge Chevy truck. Both of these events came seconds from wrecking into me... and causing unknown harm.

And so... the daughter and I decided to stop at the first Starbucks we saw... to rest for awhile... and get out of the chaos for awhile. After an hour or so.... we got back on the road. Within 10 minutes of leaving... we were in a construction zone in and around a bridge... and we were no sooner on the bridge when we had a massive tire blowout... within just a few minutes... I got off the bridge and stopped.... but it was too late for 2 of my tires. One was completely thrashed and down to the rims... the other was down to the steel.

2 hours later.... we had gotten a tow and gotten to the only place that would replace the tires today.... a Walmart Superstore. We did a bit of shopping.... and about an hour or so later... we had new tires on the Jeep. Deciding we had had enough drama for the day... and several nearly horrible incidents... and because (by now) it was dark and late... we stopped for the night just 50 miles down the road from the Walmart.
eesh. Some days you should just stay in bed.

(photo by Kristin Russell)