An Inauspicious Start

KC's F-150 with trailer...parked in Chambersburg, PA after Mexican dinner.

Today was the start of our Six Days in New England trip and it got off to a somewhat difficult start.  I planned to meet KC at 6:00AM which dictated a 5:00AM wake up call.  At 5:07AM I woke up and glanced at our bedroom clock.  Shit. I'd set the alarm but neglected to turn the alarm on.  Mayday, mayday.

En route to KC's I pulled into McDonald's drivethru for a quick biscuit and discovered that the car in front of me was ordering Thanksgiving dinner.  I watched a series of cars go by in the other curbside ordering line before I finally got to order.  Shit.

However, with a bit of speeding, I was able to recover this lost time and arrive at KC's right on time.  At least I would have if I hadn't driven past his driveway.  In the dark.  Pulling my trailer.  I stopped 150 feet past his driveway, unwilling to back up my truck and trailer in the dark.  As I pulled down the road to find a turnaround, I thought, "I hope KC didn't see that."


Four seconds went by and I received a text from him.  My iPhone lit up the dark interior of my car in a eerie green light.

His message read, "Not a very auspicious beginning."  Shit, he saw me.

Four miles down his road I found a spot to turn around and this time I managed to pull in his driveway and up to his house.  We doubled over laughing at my mistake.

I parked my SUV/trailer, loaded my suitcase and cooler into his truck and announced I was ready to go.  A hundred feet down his driveway I yelled, "Stop."

"I think I forgot my cell phone."

Running back to my SUV, I plucked my iPhone off the dash.  Shit.  This is getting ridiculous.  Its 6:07AM, the sun hasn't even begun to rise and I have narrowly avoided multiple episodes of serious mental lapses. Where's my Mojo? Have I got Bad Karma?  Early Onset?

I thought, "I'm scaring me" and wondered, "What else could go wrong?"  Oh yeah, Hurricane Jose is paralleling our path along the Atlantic coast.  Won't that be special?

In spite of a beginning to my day that many would have used as an excuse to call off the trip and crawl back into bed,  KC and I struck out on our route...I-85N to Charlotte, I-77 N to I-81N to Chambersburg, PA.  The drive was great...clear/warm weather, good roads, moderate traffic.  We covered 600 miles in 10 hours without any incidents.

Our entertainment today was a book on tape...a murder mystery set on the Madison River in Montana called "The Royal Wulff Murders" by Keith McCafferty.  The author knew his fly fishing stuff and the Madison River in areas that I've fished for years which made the book all the more entertaining for me.

By 4:00PM we'd found a Hampton Inn right off the interstate, adjacent to a Bob Evans.  Excellent Mexican for dinner at Montezuma's.  Room is quiet and cold.

Life is good.