511 miles, 14 hours, 9 green lights: highlights from a mad dash road trip, part ONE

(while we are gone, LOOKIT THIS!  My beagle is home partying with the babysitter Helen!)

The story ENDS with driving home through Ithaca's messy "octopus", this series of streets that are TERRIBLE to drive through in traffic...and we hit all of them green... WHOA.  Something like 9 traffic lights, ALL GREEN as we approached.  It was that kind of day!

I told the wife when we set out at 6ish Saturday, being the planner that I am "we will be home around 8 and it will be about 500 miles round trip". Got home at 8:07 after 511 miles...close ENOUGH.
 I am not the kind of person who dreams of leaving home and staying in hotels NO WAY.  I mean, they are OK, but the best is home in my own bed with my warm dog and cat...besides, who knows what people did on that carpet?????

I will tell you a couple things about our trip and the rest Monday:  we are driving along, 2-3 hours from home, nearing downtown Buffalo and the Peace Bridge to Canada and I tell the wife "somewhere around here are the BUFFALO STATUES!  Get the camera out!"  And she did and managed to snap a pic of these cute Buffalo as we sped past at 75.....

AND, the core of the story is this. Some of you will remember 7 years ago:  my FIRST internet customer CM came from Canada to visit at my first open studio.  She has become a dear friend whom we try to see with her husband Ben when possible.... you will also recall that they are TOTALLY CAMERA SHY...so all you get is me posing with their dog Jake and little bits of them....