This is Cora, not Erin.  After two rather long days of driving, Claire and I are 6 hours from New Jersey.  Tomorrow the Lit Lab will be parked in Claire’s driveway in New Providence while we enjoy a Memorial Day BBQ.  Unbelievable!

Getting ready to leave only took about twice as much time as I had imagined.  Without Claire, I think I would still be loading books and stuff in Florida.  But between my willingness to miss a few hours of sleep and Claire’s talent for visioning the packing, we managed to leave on Saturday morning with several boxes of books and costumes, a sound system, a plastic alligator head, a few puppets, cameras, a trolley cart, green wigs, a six-foot-long stuffed caterpillar, a tool kit, two flowered fly swatters, assorted scepters, a first aid kit, two reams of 11×17 paper, a battery charger, our suitcases, two lattes and a robot  (from now on to be named ISBN).

We set out thinking we knew where we were going, only to discover that the southern route to I-75 would have been shorter.  But then we wouldn’t have seen all the amazing resale places, antique shops or flea markets that we restrained ourselves from visiting on the way.  We were seriously tempted to stop when we saw 20 or 30 wild animal statues along the road, but there was no parking for a newly wrapped Sprinter van.

We did catch some attention at the gas station when we couldn’t find the gas tank door.  It might have made a pretty funny YouTube video – two middle-aged women spending 10 minutes patting down every inch of a Sprinter that was decorated with a crazy scientist and a blue robot.  Fortunately I remembered that I had filled the tank somewhere near the driver side door and found the gas tank door under the vehicle wrap.  Claire dug out a pair of scissors so I could carefully cut around it.  We quickly filled the tank and got back on the road.  It still makes me laugh when I think about it.

I’m happy to report that the Lit Lab is traveling well.  So far so good.  Only one box fell off the shelves and that was before we improved our bungee chord techniques.

Time to rest up for the rest of the drive.  More on the trip tomorrow …