Hybrid Gas Milage Report - Iowa Trip

I can't resist bragging about my Hybrid Toyota Prius.

I drove a total of 2,757 miles for the Iowa trip and used a total of 62 gallons of gas for a total cost of $190.53. That averages out 44.5 miles per gallon (mpg) for the total trip.

For the trip home, which was 1,305 miles, I used a total of 20 gallons of gas. This averages out to 65 mpg. Not bad considering the majority of miles were on the freeways.

I also observed that the wind either has a positive or negative impact on the mpg attained. There was a very strong headwind most of the way to Iowa and very strong tailwind coming home. I got less mpg (48.5) going to Iowa than I did coming home.

I am also amazed at how much you can pack in a Prius when you put the back seats down. I had just as much room in the Prius as I did my Jeep; this was great since my mom and I took a lot of stuff with us, not to mention all the stuff that I bought on the way home.

How satisfied am I with the car? Answer: Very satisfied.

Back to Work Surprises

Today was my first day back at work in 2 weeks. I worked at the transfer station all day.

Upon arriving, I noticed that the trailer had some modifications to it. The modifications were made since the garbage truck broke down last week and is in the shop until Thursday or Friday this week. Since garbage doesn't seem to care about holidays or the fact that our truck is broke, my guys modified our trailer so that we would be able to use it to continue collecting garbage & recyclables. It is not as efficient as our regular truck, but it gets the job done.

The guys were getting ready to begin their collection routes and I happened to notice that one guy hadn't shown up to work. I asked "what about (name of person), where is he?" My field supervisor looked at the transfer manager and said "you didn't tell Laura?" As it turns out, this particular employee fell off the back of one of the spring cleanup trucks and injuried his knee. He is ok, but he can't come back to work.

Other than the two surprises this morning, work was busy as usual.

I have a summer employee beginning work tomorrow and I'm looking forward to working her.

As you can tell, there is never a dull day in the world of garbage. I never know what will happen one day to the next; I guess this is what makes it so interesting.

Arrival - Home

Here are two photos that I found interesting during my trip to Iowa. Do you know anyone by the name of the gas station? Do you also notice anything different about the gas prices other than that they are lower than NY's gas prices?

After 12 days of driving around the country, I finally arrived back home around 7:45 pm. I'm glad to be home and my cats are even happier than I am; they haven't left my side yet.

My arrival time was later than I had expected, but for a great reason. I checked my voice mail as I was driving home from my mom's house and to my surprise I had a message from a friend inviting me to a BBQ at their house. I decided to attend since I the friend's house was within 5 miles of the route home. I had a great time and it was nice to see some of my CFC family.

Upon arriving at home, I unloaded the car. It seemed like it took forever to unload and even longer to unpack everything from my suitcases. I also put away a lot of food that I had taken on the trip and the groceries that I bought on the way home.

I am now ready for a good night sleep.

Keep checking back since I'll be posting more about my trip and include more photos.

African Safari Adventures & Weary Travelers

One word summarizes the African Safari - amazing. We got to see all kinds of animals freely roaming on the African Safari today. I had been before and it was nice to visit again. This was the first African Safari visit for my mom and she truly enjoyed herself.

We had dinner with two friends of mine and their daughter tonight. The food was great and the company was even better. It is always nice to spend time with friends that you don't get to see all the time.

Mom and I will begin our last leg of the journey home tomorrow. Although it has been fun traveling around the country, I must admit that I am ready to come home. I've come to appreciate the things that I've missed most on this journey - my friends and cats (Angel & Shadow). I can't wait to see you all.

Arrival Kalamazoo, Michagen

Mom and I arrived late last night at our hotel in Kalamazoo, Michagen. It was late since we lost an hour once we drove across the Michagen State line.

Our stomachs were telling us too that they needed food. I can't eat just anywhere because of the nutrition plan I am following. Cracker Barrel seems to have food that I can eat and there usually is one every 30-40 miles of driving. Since we were hungry and it was late, we couldn't find one...this is usually the case. We see signs for Bob Evans and decided to give this a try. Off the exit we went and got to the restrauant 10 minutes past closing time. By this time, our stomachs were crying "starvation". We resorted to getting food out of the cooler. It wasn't exactly what we wanted, but it provided the nutrition needed to get us to the hotel.

We left Iowa at 8:00 am central time and found an outlet mall enroute after 3 hours of driving. I can't resist shopping since I need new cloths to replenish all the cloths that I've given away over the past few months. The outlet mall was great and I found some great stuff. After three hours of shopping, we were back on the road the again. Of course, it was way past our lunch time and needed to find a place to eat. A woman that we met in one of the stores suggested that we stop at a local family restrauant. We did and had an great meal.

We drove through some pretty severe rainstorms with heavy winds. It was like driving in the snow belt section south of Watertown; one minute it would be clear, then stormy, and then clear. We also saw lots of signs for places that had NY names: Dexter, Boonville, etc. etc.

My favorite part of the road trip yesterday was when we found a radio station that played music spanning 5 decades - 1950-1990's. Mom and I were singing tunes together. Some of the songs I didn't know because they were written before I was born. My mom seemed to know every song though and shared stories with me about them. This was a fun time.

Today we are off to the bird sanctuary and then drive to Cambridge, Ontario where we will be spending two nights before heading home.

Keep checking back for live reports of our road trip.

Travel Plans - Trip Back to NY

My mom and I agreed that we would travel to Kalamazoo, MI on Thursday. I estimate that it will be a 9 hour drive. We'll spend the night there and then take in some of the sites on Friday. There is a bird sanctuary in Kalamazoo that mom would like to see.

On Friday we will travel to Cambridge, Ontario and spend the night there. There is an African Safari that we will visit on Saturday before heading back to NY. I should be home late Saturday night.

Iowa is known for their good tasting steaks. My brother cooked us some of the finest steaks that I've ever eaten tonight. He is quite the chef with the grill and smoker. He made us smoked chicken and salmon a few nights ago. They were yummy. Not to worry though, I am sticking to my twinnie food plan.

That is all for now from Iowa.

Arrival - Creston, Iowa

My mom and I arrived in Creston, Iowa at 10:15 pm Central time on Thursday. This was after 14 hours of driving for the day. Total driving time was 20 hours. For the most part, the trip was smooth with the exception of driving near Chicago. Spring time brings out the road construction crews and they were busy in the Chicago area. It took us almost an hour to get through the construction area.

The past few days we have spent helping my brother and his family prepare the house for my nephew's graduation party. For the past year, my brother's house has been undergoing an huge addition and it is not completely finished. There were lots of cleanup work to get the house ready for the guests. Graduation was today and most of all the guests have left for now. There are more coming though since my nephew is having his classmates over for a bon fire.

The weather has been great. The first day that we were here is was sunny and in the 80's. The past few days have been partly cloudy and highs in the 70's. They get lots of wind in Iowa, which makes it feel like in the 50's sometimes.

For those who are curious, we used approximately 15 gallons of gas to get to Iowa. I was pleased with the performance of the car and my wallet liked it too. We noticed a steady decrease in gas prices coming west. The average price here in Iowa is $2.65 per gallon. My mom and I say that it is sad that we think that they have cheap gas at $2.65 per gallon. The other interesting thing is that there is 10% ethanol in the gas.

Corn report: just planted and peeking through the soil. We are admiring how well groomed the fields are and the nice looking barns that we see.

We were able to attend church today and listen to my brother preach; did I forget to mention that he is a Pastor? This is the second time that I heard him preach and I must say he is an anointed preacher.

We will be going to Nebraska City on Wednesday for a shopping spree. This is good since I need to replace my whole wardobe due to all the weight that I've lost in the past few months. My brother shares with me that there is a huge outlet mall in Nebraska City. I'll be looking for those bargains.

My mom and I will begin our travel back to NY on Thursday. We are going to take our time coming back, stopping along the way to take in some of the sites.

That is all for now. Miss you all and I'll see you soon.

Arrival - Port Huron, MI

After a nice visit with friends in Canada, my mom and I arrived in Port Huron, MI last night around 10pm. We checked into a Comfort Inn Hotel and to my surprise the pool and whirlpool were still open; not for long though since they closed the pool area at 11pm. I quickly got to our room, put my brand new bathing suit on, and told mom that I would be back. My tired body really appreciated the warmth and swirling of the whirlpool. I was in bed by 11:30.

I must say that I had a hard time getting up this morning. It was really nice watching TV in the warmth of my bed. As I watched the weather channel, I was glad to see that it is going to be in the 80's today in Iowa. This is a far cry from the chill in the Port Huron area this morning. It is raining and it feels like November in Northern NY.

I need to go for now. I believe that we have another 10-12 hours of driving before we reach our destination - Creston, Iowa. I'll let you know how the corn is doing once I get there.

Destination - Creston, Iowa

I'll be on the road again and my destination is Creston, Iowa. What is in Creston other than corn fields? Answer: my brother and his family.

I'll be leaving tomorrow morning and picking my mom up along the way. We'll then drive to the Toronto area and stop by to visit friends that I haven't seen since last year. After dinner, we'll be heading to Michagen where we'll find a place to spend the night. The next day we'll continue to drive until we arrive at my brother's house.

The name of the road that my brother lives on is the High and Dry Road. I'll let you know how high and dry it is when I arrive.

Our activities while visiting my brother will include attending my nephew's high school graduation on Sunday and enjoying our time with the family.

I'll be back home sometime during Memorial Day weekend.

I will try to post when I'm gone if I have internet access. If not, you'll have to wait until I get back to hear about all the adventures.

See ya.

Sagamore Pictures

A view from my room. I had a porch with two rocking chairs. I truly enjoyed my quiet time sitting in them.

Another view from my porch.

Tuesday afternoon was recreational time for us. I chose to go on the boat cruise and took this picture.

Picture that I took while cruising on Lake George. This is the main part of The Sagamore hotel. Great food was found in this building.



Picture of The Sagamore from land. Notice the large glassed veranda in the center. It was beautiful to sit inside and view Lake George.

Stairs leading up to the veranda from the water.

I pulled over in Keene Valley on the way home to enjoy some of the scenery.

I heard voices as I snapped the shot in Keene Valley. I looked behind me and saw two rock climbers on this cliff. Can you see them?

I'm At The Sagamore

I'm attending NY State's annual solid waste conference. The conference in held the first week in May every year at the The Sagamore.

This is my first trip to The Sagamore. I must say that it is one of the most beautiful places that I've been at. The Sagamore is located on an island in Bolton Landing, NY. My hotel room consists of a kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, and a large bathroom. I am currently sitting on my outside deck, which overlooks Lake George. It is wonderful.

The conference kicked off last night with the opening of the vendor show followed by fireworks over Lake George. My friend, Theresa, traveled with me yesterday and she truly enjoyed roaming through the vendor show. She learned a lot about the garbage business and even how her nursing background could be used to help manage medical wastes. We both agreed that the fireworks were the best that we've ever seen.
Theresa went back home this afternoon and I'm left to enjoy The Sagamore and rest of the conference by myself. I'm having fun and learning more about the garbage business, which is always good.

I'll be posting pictures of my trip later in the week when I return home. I'm hopefully that the pictures will display the beauty that I'm seeing.

I'm off to have dinner with my Aunt who I haven't seen in a couple of years.

Traveling Again

I'm getting up early tomorrow and traveling. My destination is The Sagamore (http://www.thesagamore.com/).

New York holds their solid waste management conference at The Sagamore every year. This is the first year that I will be attending. I'm looking forward to it. I'll try to post while I'm gone.

Spring Cleanup Treasures

Here is the treadmill that I got from spring cleanup (see http://trashtidbits.blogspot.com/2006/05/spring-cleanup-begins-treasures.html). It works great and I'm sure that I'll get lots of use out of it in the years to come.

Nutrition Twin Buddies

My nutrition twin buddies, Blanche & Theresa. Thanks for being twins with me. I love my new sizes that I'm wearing. I'm only 9 pounds away from my goal weight. Can't wait to get there. Love you guys.

Cutting Trees & Fence Building

My friends, Steve & Theresa, are in the process of putting their fence back up that fell down this past winter. They decided that it was a great time for me to come over and cut tree branches that would be in the way. As you can see, this branch was no problem for my chainsaw. How do you like my outfit?

Theresa decided to help me move brush after I had finished cutting. She was wearing shorts when I gave her my chaps to protect her legs. We are now known as the "lady loggers". Any other ladies want to join our group?

Steve getting ready to mix concrete and set post in a dug hole.

Post is straight and level. A job well done.

A happy ending to the day. Thanks for dinner.

Lady Bugs Are on the Move

A month ago I wrote about lady bugs invading my bathroom (http://trashtidbits.blogspot.com/2006/03/lady-bugs-in-bathroom.html). Last night they invaded another space in my cabin.

A friend of mine introduced me to white Russian flavored coffee that I drink after dinner.

I was truly enjoying my coffee last night until I tasted something crunchy in my mouth. My first thoughts were "oh, must be some coffee beans that didn't get fully ground." These thoughts soon left me as I begin to experience an awful bitter taste in my mouth. Upon retrieving the crunchy critter from my mouth, I soon realized that I had tasted a lady bug.

Lady bugs are definitely crunchy and bitter in flavor. I would not recommend placing one in your coffee, but perhaps they would taste good in salads; if nothing else they would add color and crunch.

Spring Cleanup Begins - Treasures Already Found

We are only two days into our spring cleanup on the reservation and I've already pulled a few treasures for my home; see my post from Saturday (http://trashtidbits.blogspot.com/2006/04/finding-treasures.html) to understand what I mean by treasures.

The treasures include: a brand new tread mill that works great; two fishing poles for two special boys (Silas & Isaac); coffee pot; and brand new tupperware containers with lids.

The spring cleanup concludes on June 9. I can't wait to see what other treasures come my way. Keep visiting my blog often because I'll keep listing them here.