Day 4 --
Opted to hang out at Dad's for the first half of the day, because I wanted more time with him. Besides, we have about a 13-14 hour drive from there to DC, and there was no way I was gonna do it in one day anyway. After doing some laundry and talking and going up to his office to see a co-worker of his that I haven't seen in prolly 10 years, we hit the road. Now, it really IS Tuesday this time, so we wanted to get as far as we could before stopping to see our show. Slid through Chicago traffic and got out, driving through turnpike after turnpike (oh, joy, toll roads), stopping for dinner at an oasis truckstop. There's
something about greasy truckstop food, I can't say what. It's disgusting, but you love it.
We finally stopped in Sandusky, Ohio, and by our watches we have 30 minutes until the show starts, so we don't rush (which is good, the trainee at the hotel counter had learned her speech and patter, but didn't have the faintest clue how to use the computer or credit card machine). Cat stays in the truck, though.
We get into the room, and I'm glad that I went ahead and turned on the TV to find the station, because the show has started an hour early, so we've missed half of it!
Noooo!!!!! Thankfully, we have watched enough to kinda pick up on what is happening, and it turned out that they were doing 2 episodes that night, which was the show finale...very cool, other than the fact that I was disappointed in both the ending and the eventual winner. Oh well, just proves that TV is not worth the time.
This was to be our last night alone together. Mixed emotions to be sure. It was as beautiful as she is, and as special as we are.
Day 5 --
Final day on the road. An early start got us up and moving, once more into the breach. Driving was pretty easy, except for the fact that 6'3" me does not squeeze into most vehicles for long periods of time comfortably.
Long and short of it, we make it to Manassas, Virginia by mid-afternoon. Met her parents, who were very cool; hell, her Mom hugged me as soon as I walked in the door. Spent the rest of the afternoon unloading the truck (you wouldn't believe how much I fit in it). Impressively, her Dad, who had originally been averse to the idea of our sleeping in the same bed (understandably), decided he didn't mind, as long as he didn't hear anything happening (not that I would have). A slow evening passed nicely, and I went to bed long before Heidi did...my turn to leave her some time with her family.
Day 6 --
This was a free day, no plans, NO TRAVEL. I don't think we did anything at all that day, it was just time together...and that's all that mattered.