Wanderung 4

Toyota Tundra Tows Trailer!

Or: Following Fall Foliage with Family Flophouse Firmly Affixed!

September - October 2003

October 27 - Driving Home

Motivated no doubt by the long drive ahead of us, we both awakened early and had a simple, hasty breakfast of cereal before preparing the trailer for departure. We achieved our quickest time yet for all this, about 45-50 minutes total time, and drove out of the Wayne County fairgrounds after dumping the water tanks at about 7:45. Given that early start, I figured we might be just able to make it by sundown if we could achieve an average speed of around 60, so I tried keeping the rig at 62 mph. We were able to keep that speed up all across Ohio because it is a very flat state despite being “hi” in the middle (Sorry!).

The turnpike in Pennsylvania became noticeably more twisty and hilly, but we were agreeably surprised that our truck would still pull the trailer at around 60 mph on most grades. We had to slow down for construction zones and for the occasional meal or bathroom stop, of course, so in the end we averaged somewhat less than 60 mph and arrived back in Fairfax county just as the sun was setting and rush hour had started. To top it off, it started to rain steadily and so for the last few miles I had to jockey the rig thru rush hour traffic in the rain and the dark, which was no fun at all. Nevertheless, we made it safely home and I was greatly relieved to finally park the rig in front of our house.

The next morning dawned bright and cheerful, and I was happy to see that the fall colors were still at a peak around our house. So our plan of following the fall colors from north to south as they developed had really been achieved. I suppose we could have continued on and followed the colors south to the Carolinas and Georgia, but we were somewhat tuckered out and glad to be home. For my part, I developed a cold to go along with the sore throat I’d had for a couple of days and was happy to be at home while ill. I have found in the past that illness while traveling always seems more stressful than coping with it at home where you have all your resources available. Since I’m quite a whiner when I’m ill but had successfully avoided any accident in all that driving, you could say that Wanderung 4 ended “with a whimper rather than a bang”! (Sorry—obviously being ill has no effect at all on my peculiar sense of humor.)

Copyright 2004 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
Prolog Map Epilog

September 2003
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
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7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30
October 2003
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31

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