Days 1&2: Texas 2023: Here we go, here we go, here we go

Apologies in advance. This series may contain many references to the album “Wet Leg” by the band “Wet Leg”. If you have not listened to that album, you should. And listen start to finish, in order!

Welcome to this years epic van trip by we Milddogs!

Day one we went from our home town to my old home town. It was uneventful. Yay! We had struggled with when to leave given the pending storm. We opted to leave basically a day before we had planned to get to Sarnia before the weather and then hopefully a bit south on Friday before the weather. Dendog was the best at finding these little weather gaps to travel in. I miss consulting with him even if his skill was pure luck.

On the way to Sarnia we decided to stop at MeltWich in Milton, ON. Here is my review. Go into the Milton, ON MeltWich and ask them directions to FireHouse Subs (full disclaimer, we are shareholders in the parent company of FHS). If they don’t know where the nearest FHS is, then walk across the parking lot to McD’s! End of review.

Day 2 started with a lovely walk from Mom’s house up to Canatara Park Beach. It’s a nice 4km round trip. Special thanks to Camp Mom for the parking spot, nachos, whisky, toaster and electricity. Oh, the toilet too!

Our goal on day two was to make it to Louisville, KY. Spoiler alert, we made it.

Border crossing uneventful.
-“Where are you going?”
– “Texas”
-“For how long?”
-“About a month”
-“Have fun”

We had some home grown lemons swinging in the banana hammock right next to the window. We were not asked, we did not tell. We kept the lemons! By the way, any inferred innuendo is all your fault!

It rained pretty much the entire way. We stopped fairly frequently for puppy time, groceries, lunch (a BBQ “restaurant” in a gas station). We intended to poke along hoping to avoid the worst of the rain and wind south of us. In Ohio we had a lot of long slowdowns due to water on the highway. It rained fairly heavily in spots and was rather windy. We thought that was as bad as it would get. Yup, wrong again.

Kentucky welcomed us with huge gusts of wind. It was hitting us basically right on the beam. Our 9’4″ tall, 21′ long van was blowing all over. Occasionally we had massive downpours. The kind where you just hope the car in front of you is driven by someone competent. But, the wind. The wind! We saw:

Trees blow down up on that hill next to the highway. We witnessed the falling!
Plenty of garbage swirling as it saw fit.
Trees blown down almost on the highway.
Sticks, like big sticks, blowing through the air way farther than physics should allow.
And, just near the terminus of the day’s drive, a few trees across the highway.

Mrs. Milddogs opined that nature got the wrong K state for this kind of weather. We weren’t in Kansas!

Tonights boondocking host is Cabelas north of Louisville, KY. No pictures cause have you seen the weather?

For dinner I attempted to half walk, half fly in the wind over to Red Robin. Sadly, they had no internets and were cash only. So, me being well prepared and not having any USD on me, well, I left empty handed 🙁 Ham and cheese rollups it was.

But wait, there is more! Costco is only a few parking lots away. So I walked/ flew over there and picked up some prefab meals for later and a dessert. Good thing it is March and “No recreational eating” February is over!

But oh shit was it windy.

Tomorrow we venture further south a poking along speed. Can’t tell you where we are stopping cause we have not decided. Screw you plans, we don’t need you! Wherever it is, we hope to be able to take showers.

Did I mention the wind? I should try and grab some dashcam footage of it. That seems like work. I can’t open my hands to type well as they are still contorted from my death grip on the steering wheel.

This wind was not crying Mary.

Sometimes life gives you lemons and the disinterested border agent let’s you keep them!