It was a long hot day yesterday, at least until the huge storm came along and dumped rain and high winds down on us. From 9 a.m. to about 6 p.m., Kip, Mike, Lowell, Mark, and I worked on packing and loading the POD. We didn't make it. The POD got filled before the stuff was gone, so it was a good thing we rented a 10 foot box truck from Budget Rental. We put 26 plastic stackable totes full of Mark's comics in the truck. My wonderful sister Cindy is going to let us store them in her garage until September.
So the house is essentially empty except for the shelves that the comics used to be on in the basement, the food in the fridge and pantry, odds and ends that didn't get into the POD (but nothing big or major), and laundry! Wow! It's frightening how high the piles of trash and recycling on the curb look. We are really praying the trash men don't run away in fright.
I wanted to take Kip and Mike out to dinner, but they were just too tired and too grimy to consider a restaurant. They took off for their own homes and some hot baths. We took Lowell out to dinner, but that was an adventure in itself. Originally we had planned to go to Pizza Hut for all of us, but since Kip and Mike weren't coming and Pizza Hut doesn't have anything but beer, at the last minute we decided to go to Applebee's where I could get a nice drink with dinner. Hm...for some reason Applebee's and the Long Horn Steakhouse next to it were PACKED. It's a Sunday night around 7 p.m. and it's not a holiday, so we were surprised at the crowd. We didn't even park and go in, just circled the lot and headed to Don Pablo's. Ah HA!! Now we found out why the other places were so overcrowded. A long section of route one, including "restaurant row" had no power. At least 7 or more major restaurants were closed due to power outages. The huge storm had done its work over there. So...back to Pizza Hut after all.
But NO!! Although Pizza Hut had power and only 5 tables of over two dozen tables had customers, we were told that it would be a 35 minute wait before our order could be taken and another half hour before the food would get cooked, so we should probably leave as it was over an hour's wait. HUH? I looked back at the dining room again to verify it wasn't packed. No large crowd of people was waiting with pagers to get seated like happens at Cheesecake Factory. We didn't get it, but HEY, we have never liked that Pizza Hut anyway. We hadn't been there in years, and our opinion of the place was not improved. Hm...guess that's the LAST time, literally, that we will go there.
So where did we go for dinner? Well, it was the perfect place. Why didn't we think of it first. There is a charming Chinese restaurant right next door to our local Shopper's Food Warehouse in our own neighborhood. We have been there a few times over the years, but we had never taken Lowell. We went. They had power, tables, a short wait, polite staff, delicious food, low prices, and fruity girly drinks. I was in heaven. If you want some good Chinese food in Laurel, go to Chung King Mongolian Bar-b-que in the Maryland City section, next to Shopper's on route 198. You won't be sorry.
We said good bye to Lowell and went back to the house. We had to load Mark's suitcases in the car and put some more laundry in. Then we checked into the Econo Lodge on route one, about a 5 minute drive from the house. The room is more than adequate. Mark always does his research when selecting hotels. He looks for the intersection of Choice Hotels, AAA recommended, and cheap. We also wanted a microwave and fridge. This place had it all and a great location. We were quite happy with it when we saw it. We had a lot of stuff to drag in to clear out both cars, then NO! We did not flop, exhausted, into the bed. Oh, no. We had to drive Mark's car up to the Ford dealer to leave it overnight to get the AC fixed. He's been driving without it for over a month. NOT FUN!! And because a large section of route one had no lights, we took a longer, but safer, route with lights that worked. Still it went smoothly and we were really in the room for the night about 10:15. Not bad. Slept well and discovered that this place has a wonderful shower! One of my priorities.
So today is another jam-packed day involving taking things to the dump, driving to Thornburg, VA to meet up with my sister and give her some stuff, and driving up to north Baltimore in the rental truck to put the 26 totes in my sister's garage. Whew! I'm getting tired just thinking about it, but before you know it, it will all be done.
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