Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

We were up at 5:00 am this morning in an effort to leave on time. The Bennetts, bless their souls, got up at 6:00am on the Saturday of their Thanksgiving weekend just to say good-bye. Sorry about that guys. We did manage to leave the house by 6:00am sharp however there were a few details to be completed before we could pull away. For the last time we completed our walk around visual check of the MoHo, the car, the bikes and then Chantal grabbed the walkie-talkie for our ritual of checking that all the lights and signals are functioning properly on both the MoHo and the car. And then finally Chantal watched to make sure that the car’s tow bar locked into place. Then we were off. We made it out of Apex, through part of Raleigh and into Durham where we stopped to get some gas. We then drove up through the rest of North Carolina and into Virginia, by-passed Washington D.C., followed by a short jaunt through Maryland where we stopped at Hagerstown, MD. That was about 5 hours of driving, with only one bio-break stop along the way. Remember, we had to winterize the MoHo so no more using our own toilet. So far, so good. In Hagerstown we had a huge lunch at Denny’s and then we filled the tank once more. As we were filling up Chantal got a call from her brother letting her know that her mother was doing a little better today but things were still very serious. We were off again and quickly crossed into Pennsylvania. We were approaching the Appalachians and I was wondering just how much these hills were going to slow us down. We ended up making it through with a lot less effort than I had expected. It seemed like the MoHo was in its element and was handling the hills rather effortlessly. We passed through Wilkes-Barre and Scranton as the sun was setting and it was dark by the time we made it to the New York state border We stopped shortly after that in Binghamton, NY for another bio-break. We had consumed such a huge lunch that none of us were very hunger so we determined that we would just grab some snacks and drinks in the MoHo and continue on our way. We made it as far as Syracuse before needing to make another fuel stop. I was hoping to stretch this one to be as close to the Canadian border as possible since gas in the US is cheaper than gas at home. Next stop, the international border. We were all getting pretty excited at this point. We had not been in Canada since we crossed into the states on Aug 23rd near Vancouver. We ended up picking the right line for a change. We only waited about 3 minutes and then the Customs agent was great. She asked where we lived, what we were bringing back, how long we had been in the US and where we had been. After I gave her a summary of where we had been since late August she just paused, looked at us, and said, “Wow, I wish I could have come along.” Needless to say we were through the border very quickly. It was 9:13pm. We had driven all the way from Apex, NC to Canada in only 15 hours! Woo Hoo!

In summary:
Number of stops for food = 1
Number of stops for bio-breaks = 2
Number of stops for gas = 3
Number of happy campers since we are almost home = 4

We still had to make it to Ottawa, which is about another hour and a half from the border. However, on the way there our trip took us right past my father’s place so we decided to stop in for a quick visit since we had not seen him since we left in June. It was a nice little late-night visit and we got caught up on a few things before we jumped back into the MoHo/Matrix caravan and head north to Ottawa to complete the last 110 km (70 miles) of our MoHo Extravaganza. We finally made it home at midnight, 18 hours after we pulled way from Michael and MaryLou’s place in North Carolina. The most amazing part of today’s trip had to be the fact that we had clear skies and clear roads the entire way back from from Raleigh. That was certainly a stroke of luck considering the type of weather Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario can offer up this time of year. Just look at the two feet of snow the poor old people in Buffalo, New York were dealing with a few short weeks ago. Yet we did not even get one drop of rain. And as I drove the final leg home on that crisp, dark night my thoughts turned to the trip we had just taken and the many weeks of travel all around the continent. As I thought back on the many experiences our family shared, what I really hoped was that it had, at the very least, imbued in my children a sense of adventure and curiosity about the world. That alone would make this trip a great success. As we turned onto our street and pulled in front of our house, it was hard to believe we were home and the trip was over … but I have to admit that I was really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed once again.

Today’s word:

imbue \im-BYOO\, transitive verb:
1. To tinge or dye deeply; to cause to absorb thoroughly; as, "clothes thoroughly imbued with black."
2. To instill profoundly; to cause to become impressed or penetrated.