Day 19: Cincinnati, OH to Orchard Park, NY - 435 miles

First call out of the trip: NJ license plate: 2724: You drive like a jerk!
Ok, I feel better.
We hit the road just after noon. 3 meals in 15 hours meant that we hit the road with a full stomach. Grandma Gillman always takes care of us. She hosted the Bowman 7 effortlessly. When we land, we land with a thud. What Jen and I love most about visiting her is the joy the kids have as they see their great-grandmother. She has a great relationship with each of the kids, and, in turn, they have a great relationship with her. We were able to relax for the 15 minutes hours on the ground.
Since Meg and Jim stayed in Indianapolis, we synchronized our watches to meet in Columbus. We were 10 minutes off our timing. We went to McDonald’s for a round of smoothies, and frappes and then back to the trip. The drive to Orchard Park was easy. We decided that we would have our ‘break up’ dinner at Texas Roadhouse in Erie, PA. Our dinner was great and breakup was filled with laughter and great memories for an epic adventure.
When we pulled up to the Schenkler’s house after 9pm, there were a half-dozen cars in the driveway. Shel and Lisa were hosting a graduation party and they still offered to have us crash at their place. We laid out our gear and walked to their fire pit for s‘mores. The kids presented Hayley with her scrapbook and Snax (I was so happy we did not misplace the stuffed animal during the trip). Hayley was very happy to receive the book and postcards from each of our stops. The kids were very focused on making sure Hayley was able to take part in their adventure.
As the fire continued, most people went back to the house and called it a night. Shel and I stayed by the fire with Molly and Liam. It was past 11:30 and Liam and Molly were amped up and full of stories and Shel and I exchanged looks. I then received a text from Jen, “Greg needs to say good night, he is not settling down.” I would now like to redirect you back to paragraph 4, sentence 3: “We went to McDonald’s for a round of smoothies, and frappes and then back to the trip.” The caramel frappes went to Molly, Liam, and Greg. Little did I know that these are coffee beverages! D’oh! Yup Molly (11), Liam (8), and Greg (4) all had coffee late in the afternoon. Liam was on his back, pretending to run in the air. Greg, was having loud conversations at 12:45 am about his blanket and how he loves her. What a way to celebrate our last night.