(Dachary)

It was a restless night, with Lita poking Kay repeatedly for dog walks. We’re always a little paranoid about her potty training in a hotel room (me more than Kay) after she got over-excited on a trip last year and peed on our dog bed. Thankfully, it wasn’t the hotel room floor - but we don’t want a first time for that, so we err on the side of additional walks. Between her needing to pee all the pees, and Kay needing to do that, and me being woken up when the two of them got up and down, it was pretty restless for all of us.

Nonetheless, by the time we got up, I had decided I was going to exercise before we set off. In February, I started strength training 3x a week with a friend of mine, and doing other exercise on the off days. I’ve lost around 35 pounds, gained a lot of muscle mass, and have been feeling more energetic… so I don’t want to let vacation derail me. Historically, I do really well on exercising until I go on vacation, and then it just… stops. And I don’t pick up again when I get home. I didn’t want that to happen this time, and I’ve worked hard for all my gains, so I brought a 25lb kettlebell, my workout mat, my shoes and workout clothes on this trip.

[](/2016/09/02/westward-ho-day-2/exercise_equipment/" rel=“attachment wp-att-1915)

The room was not optimally configured for working out. There was barely room for my mat, if I laid it lengthwise between the two double beds. I didn’t feel I had a ton of room to swing the kettlebell, and the dogs kept being glued to me like velcro, which makes me paranoid that I’m going to hit them with it. Eventually, Kay had to put them on leash and hold them to give me enough space to work out. But I got through it!

After working out, showering, availing ourselves of the sad hotel breakfast and then running a side-errand to Petco, it was after 10:30 before we finally hit the road. It was a long day to cover, with 490 miles between Buffalo and our hotel at the end of the day.

We drove.

And we drove.

Then we drove some more.

We had a sad lunch stop at a gas station that turned out to contain a Tim Horton’s. Kay has continually suggested Tim’s, to which I’ve been replying that they’re not actually that good… I think now that he’s got a more recent reference point, he’ll agree with me and stop suggesting it.

Our next stop, we think, actually came at a place where we spent the night in the Vanagon (a TA in Ohio). We didn’t realize it when we stopped there, but we both started thinking it was familiar, and by the time we left we recalled details and remembered it was definitely a stop where we had spent the night before. That was kinda fun. We split some Popeyes since we were hungry again after our sad Tim’s lunch, and some Starbucks, and that kept us going for a while.

[](/2016/09/02/westward-ho-day-2/rest_stop_at_ta/” rel=“attachment wp-att-1919)

When we got back on the road after that stop, Waze actually sent us on a funky 5-mile detour that cut off a section of whatever interstate we were traveling (I-71?) We ended up touring rural Ohio for a few minutes, which we both agreed was actually a nice diversion from all the boring interstate. But then we got right back on the interstate. Kay suggested that Waze was trolling us, and tweeted something at them to that effect, but Waze replied in the negative. It was a funny exchange, anyway, and we enjoyed the temporary respite from the boring highway.

Things went back to boring after that, though. We made miles. Switched drivers when we needed to. Walked the dogs whenever we stopped. And we rolled into Anderson, IN around 8:30pm.

[](/2016/09/02/westward-ho-day-2/sunset_in_anderson-2/” rel=“attachment wp-att-1918)

We’ll be staying in Anderson for a day while I visit my grandpa, and set up a medical alert device for him. He’s been having some health problems that concern me, since he lives alone. After that, the plan is to get back on the road and head West!