After a five hour sleep in Scotty, I emerged and walked ever the bridge to the restroom. I saw a large crowd of Mennonite folks gathered in line at McDonald’s, so I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. When I came out the line had gone down so I got some breakfast and walked back to the truck.

But when I got to where I had parked, there was no Scotty or truck!

WHAT!???

I checked the parking lot twice- just could not figure it out. Could it be that those people who told me not to sleep in the camper were right? Were there really people who had time to sit and wait till I finished sleeping and went into the bathroom, then came over and hotwired the truck and droved it away? Or had it been loaded into the back of the truck and hauled away to be resold on the black market? Many bad thoughts were going through my head as I walked in to report this to the police. I happened to see a truck driver walking in and said, “I can’t believe it but my truck has been stolen!” He said, “Where are you headed?” I said to Erie and he said he had just come through there and that I was probably on the wrong side of the highway.

Oh thank God! I was so happy I couldn’t believe it. And realized how Scotty had become my little traveling buddy. I felt like Tom Hanks and his battered volleyball Wilson…

Much relieved, I continued the 60 mile drive to Erie, PA. I spent the afternoon with my best friend since second grade, Irene.

I had to finish the video for Sizzix so she went and ran some errands. After I finally finished the video, Irene took me out to Beach 11 in Presque Isle State Park. It was huge- just like the lake- and we sat on the beach and ate sandwiches for lunch.

Then we visited a beautiful garden center where she found some flowers to fill in the garden.

At about four, I rolled on to Chardon, OH where I  arrived just in time for a delicious (and healthy) meal at the home of Maureen and Kenny, my husband Hayward’s cousins. After dinner we walked the dog around the neighborhood and I retired to my beautiful guest room intending to write a blog post but instead getting a much needed night of sleep.

What I am seeing from visiting all of these kind people who take me in is that my hosting skills need serious tweaking!

Stay tuned for another chapter soon…