June 29th - It's early Saturday morning, and no one is ready to hit the road. We're all a little overwhelmed by the trip so far, and the only drive we have this morning is the fact that when the sun goes down, we will have reached our destination. Our interim destination, that is - we have a room reserved in the Staybridge Suites in Allentown, where we will try to recuperate again before driving up to our rental home in Palmerton and unloading the truck the following day. With that in mind, I get up and walk the dogs one last time while Jen gets dressed and breaks down the kitty corral. As the hotel offered a breakfast, Jen heads down to the cafe while I watch the kids, and comes back with the desk clerk and several plates of food. I love that hotel!
Back in the cab with Jen and the crew...everyone takes their place, and I practice my expert backing up the truck and trailer for about 200 yards out of the parking lot. Ever backed up a large truck and trailer? It's a lot of fun, especially when you have cars all around you and about 25' of width in which to do so. But we get the whole thing turned around, taxi out to the main road, locate I-95 North, and we're off once again. After a short conference, we decide that we will stop every 100 miles for a break, walk the pets, stretch and maybe eat something. We've got my GPS in the truck to keep us going in the right direction, and it marks our mileage, so we set it for 100 miles and off we go.
Everything is going smoothly! Too smoothly. We're making great time, and the GPS says we should pull into Allentown around 4 PM. A little ahead of schedule. Nice. All the pets are chilling, Jen is comfy, even with Sandy on her lap...and the GPS tells us to take a bypass route, I-495, around D.C. Nice road, little traffic, nice scenery...and then we see the electronic sign that is telling everyone to expect heavy traffic as we merge back onto I-95. And about 10 seconds after we see the sign, we are in a virtual parking lot. As far as the eye can see, the traffic extends. Okay. Relax. First of all, we're in a diesel truck, so we have no fear of over-heating...the temp outside is about 90ยบ...the A/C is working fine, and we have probably 2/3 of a tank of fuel. We're not in any hurry, so we might as well sit back and go with the flow. We have no choice - we're in the middle of this dog-slow wave of vehicles, and we seem to be moving at about 2 miles per hour.
We were moving at 2 mph! Now we're stopped, and I cannot see any end to the traffic. It's been 30 minutes now, and we've gone about 3 miles. I'm watching the GPS continue to correct the ETA to Allentown - 4:30 PM, 4:45 PM, 5:00 PM, 5:15 PM...and I'm wondering how much longer we will be caught in this massive traffic jam. After what seems like 2 hours, we start to break into some open road, and after about 2 miles, there's another traffic jam. I'm wondering how many people will be accused of road rage today somewhere in this mess. It took us 2 and a half hours to get through the D.C. nightmare, but soon we are on open road again, and making good time.
But our new ETA is now 7 PM. Well, that's okay. We have nowhere to go but into a hot shower and a cool bed tonight. Tomorrow, June 30th, a Sunday, will be the day of reckoning, as I get my first actual look at our new home in Palmerton. And as we try to unload this packed truck and get everything situated so we can actually sleep there on Monday. Shortly after 7 PM, we pull into Allentown and the Staybridge Suites hotel. We are blessed again by having our room right next to the parking lot exit, so we can walk the dogs in a nice grassy area. Jen sets up the kittie corral again, and I go through the process of disconnecting the car carrier so that tomorrow I can head north to Palmerton and unload our cargo. We actually find an Italian restaurant that will deliver to our room, so it's pizza tonight. A good meal, and it's time to catch some Z's before the big day tomorrow.
June 30th - Man, I did NOT get enough sleep! But it's rise & shine and get ready for the great unload. My oldest daughter and her husband Dave arrive at the hotel; Dave will ride with me in the truck and guide me to Palmerton. He has our grandson Riley with him. Both he and Annie work in Palmerton, so they know the quickest way to get there. Our other daughter Amanda has been to the Palmerton City Hall and prepared the way be getting the on-street parking blocked off just for today. Parking is parallel along the curb; there are no driveways or garages. And so we have about 6 parking spaces right in front of our place reserved to give us room to unload.
Jen will stay at the hotel with the fur-kids, and she'll just rest and relax for the day, doing little more than baby-sitting. She deserves it - she has been a real trooper during this trip, and it has been long and tiring at times, but there have been no complaints. The trip has been tiring on both of us, and before the final move into our new home, one final day of luxury outside the cab of that truck is just what the doctor ordered. I will do all of the "directing" at the house, but I'm not supposed to do any heavy stuff. Don't know if I can honor that promise completely, but I'm hoping that we will have a full crew when we get there. It took two pros 4 hours to pack this truck - how many people and how long will it take to unload it?
Annie, Dave and Riley arrive at the hotel, and after a bit of idle chat, we're off to Palmerton. I canot believe the road I'm driving on - a small two-lane, no-passing zone, up & down hills covered with trees and small farm houses. And the speed limit is 50 MPH! Interspersed with 15 MPH curves and a few traffic signals. I've got a death grip on the wheel, and Dave has a death grip on the dash. It's not that I'm driving badly, it's just that we're in this big truck on a little road, and I'm not used to this stuff. But we finally arrive in town. And it IS a small town. The main street, Delaware, is about 2 miles long. There are probably about 3 blocks to my right before a creek, and about 6 blocks to my left going up-hill. And that is the entire town. We cruise into the middle of town and make a right onto 4th Street, and then a left onto Lehigh Avenue. It's a beautiful little street right out of Mayberry RFD...mostly row homes, lots of American flags, people out on the front stoop, regular Americana. Stuff I haven't seen before. I think I'm going to like it here.
(To be continued...)
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