Friday, June 11, 2021 we woke up and finished preparations for a very quick trip to Michigan. To say we were tired is an understatement. Thursday night at 9pm I told Claude I was exhausted and thought I would go to bed. This is two hours earlier than usual. I was asleep by 9:30pm. Slept until almost 7am.
When we got up we determined we would begin our day with haircuts. I cut Claude's hair. Then he cut my hair. We both felt lighter!!
Our first stop was the post office in Sadieville to mail packages. Our second stop was at Hardee's to get a biscuit and a Mello Yello for breakfast. On to Georgetown to leave a treat bag for Papa and fill the bird feeder. Then we hit I-75 headed north to Chelsea, Michigan.
As we neared Cincinnati, the cicadas came in waves. They were bouncing off of cars. One sat on our windshield as we were stalled in traffic at the bridge over the Ohio River. I couldn't get my cellphone camera up fast enough to get a picture though. One lady in the lane next to us was smoking her cigarette with her window down so the smoke would go outside her car. This allowed cicadas to get into her car. She eventually rolled up that window.
I sent a text to our children, "Stay in your homes!!" Cicadas everywhere. Ruining Gramps's clean windshield!! Take cover!!"
Our Andie responded with "Nooo! Get out. Find one walking around looking for a hunny. The snap near it. If it turns and comes towards you, it's a boy! If it ignores you, it's a girl! Girl cicadas click and the boys head for the clicks. Their vision is so poor they can't tell if a person snapping is a human or a saucy lady cicada. I did a little cicada lesson with my class (Andie teaches 1st Grade) this year and one of the kids went to town snapping at one during recess to test it out. He ended up whipping that poor fella into a frenzy and the cicada got stuck on his mask."
Andie also sent these two pictures. The first one shows that people collect the cicada shells and craft with them. The second is a sampling of the pictures the kids in her class drew of their cicada friend.
We stopped in Sidney, Ohio for gas and to have a bit of lunch from Hardee's. We arrived in Chelsea at 4pm.
I let Jacob know we were in Room 229 at the Comfort Inn. He let me know he had to be the last one out of work that day so we would probably not meet up until 5:30pm. We left it to Jake to pick the place and we would treat for the meal. Jake is just not getting out and about and we wanted to be respectful of his comfort level in really being around people.
Claude and I were in the parking lot of The Valiant, a nice restaurant and bar, at 5:20pm. When Jake got there, he saw us before we saw him. He walked around in front of the car next to us. We got out of our car and I waited for him to let me know it was okay to hug him. He smiled and put our his arms. That was the best hug ever!!! Jake is a talk man and his long arms just give the best hugs around. After well over a year, more like a year and a half, we could finally hug again. Claude sure enjoyed his hug from Jake as well.
We enjoyed our dinner inside of The Valiant very much. After dinner we went to Jake's apartment and left boxes of his things we have stored in our basement. Then he came back to the hotel and we visited for the evening. There was a really good rain shower while we visited. It was followed by a beautiful rainbow. The rainbow started low on the ground behind a building and gradually rose up over time and formed a complete arch. At one point you could see a second rainbow behind it. It was delightful to watch that rainbow grow as the sun moved.
Saturday, June 12, 2021, we were on the road from Chelsea to Muskegon, Michigan. It was a really foggy morning. Claude pulled through the Wendy's for us to get a bite of breakfast.
I sent a text message to our kids to let them know we were on the road again. This is the message, "After the best hug ever from Jake, we are on our way to Muskegon on a very foggy morning." Nissa responded with, "I want a Jake hug!" Katelyn responded with, "I want a Jake hug!" Jake retorted with, "The going rate for a Jake hug is half a calzone and dipping sauce." To which Katelyn responded, "Is that ranch or marinara?" And Nissa added, "Bring it, I know the place! It's actually a pizza but I will gladly fold it in half for you!" Jake let Nissa and Katelyn know that marinara is the preferred sauce for calzones and folded pizza would work. Katelyn upped her ante to Jake with, "Regular or pepperoni or triple meat or cheese?" Jake assured her either would be good.
By 11:30am we were in Muskegon with a stop to be made at Walmart. You see, I had an elephant stuffed animal made like the stuffed animals Hayden and Bailey loved so much from the Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory. That factory has closed but I found this elephant and purchased it several years ago. Joel would be the perfect recipient of this elephant. As we were packing the car for this trip, I said to Claude that I felt bad taking a stuffed animal to Joel and not one to Emelia and Raelyn. I did have stuffed animals that I could give them from my collection of holiday stuffed animals to put out for grandmonsters. I picked the Easter bunny and the black cat for Halloween. We were not supposed to be able to visit with Aubrey and Nelson as she had previous plans. So I didn't pack a stuffed animal for Nelson. While driving to Muskegon, I learned that Nelson would be at Katelyn's. I couldn't very well give three of the great grandmonsters a stuffed animal and not give one to Nelson. How rude would that be? So, Walmart saved my day with a nice stuffed dog. I also picked up some soda for us to have with our lunch.
We opted to drive thru McDonald's to get lunch for everyone. Raelyn is in LOVE with McDonald's. What little child is not? Then we were off to the Roper home for the afternoon. It was a full house with all five Ropers, Paul, Nelson, Claude and me. It was great fun to meet Joel for the first time. He is a snuggly boy.
Before we arrived, Katelyn tried to help me by getting a picture of all four of our great grandmonsters together.
Sunday, June 13, 2021, we got ready and left the Tyler's at 9am. Todd suggested we take Hwy 31 south toward Indianapolis and avoid the bridge over the Ohio River at Cincinnati. We took his suggestion. We stopped for lunch at Hardee's and gasoline at Love's. I had a warning on my Google Maps about a wreck in Indianapolis on one of the roads we were planning to drive. The wait time in that back up was slowing getting longer and longer. I found us a way through city streets to bypass the wreck and then get back on the Interstate. Other than than and several construction slowdowns, which are to be expected in the summer months, we made good time.
As we drove home, we received these pictures of Emelia with her baby brother, Joel. If this doesn't move you, I'm not sure what would. Emelia is only two years old and has a heart full of love for this little brother.
We got back into Kentucky to severe thunderstorms in Scott County with flood warnings. We did have to drive through one bit of pouring rain. Other than that, we missed the bad stuff. It was not raining when we pulled into our garage. Yeah!!
This was such a quick trip. But it was such a good trip. Furniture and treasures were taken to our kids in Michigan. Hugs were given and received. Good meals and catching up with all our family were had. Very happy we could make this trip. Now...Back to cleaning and clearing!!
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