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  We got an early start Wednesday morning because when I talked to my boss Ken the previous evening, he informed me that the alpaca needed to be back at the farm for sheering. You see, alpaca sheering skills are not common. Anywhere. These particular practitioners of the sheering arts hail from Australia and they travel the globe doing their thing, but we will get to that another time. So my marching orders(driving orders?) were Cleveland Ohio to North Yarmouth Maine that day. Julia and I had planed to spend the night around Albany and get home Thursday just to take it easy, I forgot that this is/was work. Lots of rolling highway and trees, lovely lovely trees. I will admit to getting vertigo as often the ground along the road dropped off quite precipitously. Traffic picked up once we hit the Mass Pike and the second bit of irksome stop and go delays were met on 495 North around Acton Massachusetts. After a stop at home to drop off my delightful traveling companion, Julia had had quite enough of the road, thank you very much, I pulled up to the barn around 8:00 to disgorge my charges. There was a festive mood at the farm that evening not for my return but because it was sheering day. I learned sheering day is an spectators event, and if you make it a party, you can get some free labor. As I made my departure for home and not being able to ask the alpaca directly, I gathered that the running, leaping and general frolicking, that the mules were as happy to be off the road as I was.

The Road Less Traveled

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny - nice. Water and hay for the mules, apples from the front desk for the humans - nice. WAGONS HO! Too much? Whatever. We chose to stay north, wisely as it turns out, because there were so few cars on the roads. Passing south of Chicago,(Chi-town, The Windy City, The City of Big Shoulders) was one of two incidences of irksome traffic encountered by our intrepid travelers. The Illinois Highway Commission in their infinite wisdom decided to work on all the bridges on both sides of the road at once. Clearly the members of said commission do not travel by automobile, or perhaps they are inept as well as corrupt. Funny fact about the Land of Lincoln or The Prairie State, is that if you have been elected Governor of Illinois, the odds of your going to prison are greater than if you commit the crime of murder. I suggest you, the reader, do neither, however that is just my opinion. Many of the rest stops have facilities for R/S which include  water, in our case the alpaca and only twice did I require the kindness of the maintenance staff to provide the life sustaining liquid. As the afternoon wained and the miles ticked past, we flirted with the thunder storms that had been shadowing our journey across our fruited plains and happily they graciously chose not to dampen our path or spirits. Running out of steam for the day we exited in Willoughby Ohio where among the room renting establishments listed was one of the partners in the Choiceprivileges thingy mentioned in a previous entry and we were keen to find out if our third night was in fact free. Fate intervened in that the hotel was farther from the highway than out comfort level allowed compelling us to select better situated lodgings in an unaffiliated inn. The quality of the hotel was slightly less than the first two, but I assure you my friends we have stayed in much worse. [a shudder passes through the soul of the author] The restaurant next to the hotel in question was wicked half decent, the house made gnocci were palatable and how far astray can one go with pizza? After a post repast nightcap it was into the rejuvenating arms of Morpheus for us indeed! Too much?