Home Again (not just a lovely entry title but song title John's band has)

I did drive the whole way yesterday, and I'm glad I did. It was a relatively easy drive. Booie and I only stopped for lunch and dinner, getting gas at the same time. We ate in the car when I told Boo it might save us enough time to get home that day. I only had fries for lunch and coffee for dinner, eating raisins I had with me in between. We stopped one last time for gas just before crossing into Pennsylvania and arrived home before 11:00. It took only fifteen and a half hours.

I got a good night's sleep in my own bed, and my neck and shoulder already feel better. Driving did nothing good for them, and the area was so sore when I went to bed, it brought tears to my eyes. It's much better today but not entirely gone. I hope another night in a good bed will cure that.

The first thing on today's agenda, since I just finished unloading the truck, is to take the dog for a ride up to Petsmart. I need to get a shedding comb, because her clumpiness has only gotten worse since I left. I'm also getting a harness or leader for her, because she's pulling so hard when she goes for walks that I think the collar is doing damage to her throat. She's coughing quite a bit. I know training her not to pull would solve that, but that will have to wait. Until then, I can't keep letting her hurt herself.

She was absolutely thrilled to see us. We got full-body wags when we came home. After being thoroughly licked and sniffed, we sat on the floor with her while she ran around playing between lying on her back for belly rubs.

The cats joined us as well, but I think they were more hungry than anything. Asia shouldn't be hungry by the looks of him. Seems he gained quite a bit of weight while we were away. John suspects he was cleaning up after the dog who wasn't eating all her food. Asia is very pleased we are home today though and sat with me purring for almost an hour. He's followed me around the house most of the morning, only to finally go nap when I unloaded the truck.

John is happy to have us home too. He pushed for me to drive all the way yesterday and called once to see how close we were. He seemed pleased we were making such good time. I was disappointed after we got here and got hugs and kisses that he acted no more than we had been gone for the evening. We talked about it, and he apologized explaining how all the counseling issues are creating a lot of turmoil for him. I suspect it's going to be an emotionally rough time while he gets things worked out. I tried to be understanding despite my disappointment, and we went to bed.

Now I have to get some food for us. John neglected to even stock the essentials for our arrival. In fact, the refrigerator smells horrendous from something that sat in there for two weeks decomposing, so I don't know how much he even used the kitchen at all. The dishes are done at least. Last year, he left them sit the whole time I was gone, nearly three weeks after already being about three days old. The house is fairly clean, and the laundry is done if not put away. We just don't have edibles or toilet paper.