Day Two: Todelo, OH

Hello from Ohio!  Ok, so we've finally reached somewhere where I have decent enough internet to update you all on the craziness of the last couple days.  I think it's best to separate it into parts:

Part 1: Leaving Connecticut

For the last week or so the navy has been promising guessing that we would leave each day, and each day we packed up and got ready to go and then something stopped us from actually getting on the road (that "something" was usually navy medical).  Then, on a sunny Tuesday morning in June, I got the text that Colin had his medical records in hand and we were set to hit the road.  As soon as he got home we packed up, thanked the beyond wonderful staff at the Rodeway Inn, and booked it before they could change their minds. 

As far as the actual logistics of Colin's medical hold, he's going to continue waiting around, we just get to do it in the comfort of our own home.  Although nothing is official, word on the street is that his waiver has been denied, and he will be redesignating in the fall(ish).  A lot still needs to be figured out, but he will for sure be staying in the Navy.

Part 2: Frackville, PA

Now, to say we left in a hurry would be an understatement.  We were just so excited to be given the ok to get out of town, that everything else more or less fell to the wayside.  Now, if you know me, you know that I don't do so well when things aren't planned out.  I'd say this quadruples for things like cross country trips.  Never the less, we haphazardly mapped out a route and picked some affordable pet friendly hotels along the way, without really checking too many reviews on each one (I usually go a little user review crazy). 

What's nice to someone, may be a complete snake pit to someone else.  I'm pretty sure that's what happened when it comes to Frackville, PA.  Stopping in Pennsylvania was hard enough considering there's not a whole lot between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but finding a pet friendly hotel is even harder.  Since we'd been living in a Rodeway Inn all this time, we figured we knew it wouldn't be great, but it would be livable.  We. Were. Dead. Wrong.

This hotel will without a doubt go down in history as the worst hotel we've ever had the pleasure of staying the night in.  As soon as we pulled up we knew it was less than ideal, but just as Colin was saying "if you want to go somewhere else we can..." Lao Tzu was throwing up in his carrier.  He made it through the whole four hours and waited until we were literally pulling in to this gross hotel to throw up everywhere.  At that point we were pretty much exhausted and figured one night wouldn't kill us and decided to stay.

As soon as we parked and got something to eat I made a trip to the local walmart to get some things for the trip.  While there I saw: 2 grown men in camo pajamas (at 7pm), 1 man drink out of a juice carton and put it back, and 1 Walmart that doesn't sell bottled water (what the what?).  Discouraged, I headed back towards the hotel only to pass by a maximum security state penitentiary.  Upon further phone googling I quickly found that not only is Frackville home to this prison I had driven by (that was .2 miles from our hotel), but that there were 3 more within a 6 mile radius from where I was.  Awesome. That definitely explained why the staff didn't ask me for any information (including an ID) when I checked in.  After that I couldn't drive back and unload the car fast enough.  As I did, the guy who lived next to us mentally inventoried everything I was taking out of the car (presumably to decide if we had anything worth breaking in for, which it seems we didn't). 

I will never stay in a random town without a thorough google search again.

Part 3: Toledo, OH

After a pretty successful (and windy) 7 hour drive we finally made it to Toledo, OH!  The La Quinta we're staying in has the most comfortable bed we've slept in in weeks, and the room couldn't be nicer (what a relief!).  The cats are happy, we're happy, and now we're just biding our time until we can get back on the road to head to Madison, WI tomorrow.  We should make it to Poulsbo by next Tuesday, and we can't wait to see our house!  It's been almost 7 months since poor Colin has even see what we've been paying mortgage for all this time.

Cross your fingers that our trip continues to go well, and I'll do my best to update whenever we have internet!!