From Kosas to Cubbons

Day 2

The morning at the Kosa Homestead, my home for almost my entire childhood, began with a tour. In an effort to prepare “Twin Ponds Farm” for sale, my mom and dad recently completed at least a dozen renovations that I was starting to think would never happen. There were enough home improvements to make Tim Allen jealous, including the herculean feat of  cleaning out, partially re-siding, re-painting, and re-enforcing our two barns. My parents also replaced a footbridge to our pasture, remodeled a bathroom, sealed and painted over cracks in the ceiling, and laid the groundwork for major repairs on our dam (in effort to restore the property’s primary pond). It was strange and exciting to think that the house was slowly being returned the way I knew it as a child. I thought it’d be nice if the next owners of the property will have little boys of their own. If so, I hope they’ll get to play hide and seek in the barn, catch frogs in the pond, and have new adventures all their own.

New Bridge

Re-sided Barn

Little Barn

Pond Frog

With a 9 hour trip to Toledo, OH looming, and temperature skyrocketing, Kim and I had no choice but to wrap up my nostalgic 5-acre walkabout. We loaded up, bid farewell to my parents, and began phase 2.

After the tour of the new and improved Kosa estate, Jay and I finally piled our belongings into the truck (including a new bike rack, courtesy of Mr. Kosa!) and took our leave. The 3 hour drive from Pipersville to middle-Pennsylvania was a familiar one for both of us, being the path from his house to Lewisburg, PA and Bucknell University. The ride was relatively uneventful as we chatted away, over-tired and loopy.

We switched drivers around lunchtime, marking my first official stint as Trucker on our journey. At first operating this giant vehicle was terrifying, since it has so much width and potential for destruction while totally lacking a back windshield. Navigating small spaces, and even parking lots, are tricky as a result. But once we were on the road I felt more confident, especially when I noticed that most cars would simply vacate the next lane if my blinker went on. Being such a small person in such a giant truck, it brought me back to the days of driving my old Blazer in high school. I forgot how good it feels to be so high up!

Heading through Lock Haven, PA on Route 80

My three hours driving through western Pennsylvania was also rather boring, especially while Jay caught up on some much-needed sleep. After rolling conveniently over a rumble strip he was back to keep me company and we talked some more about random subjects as we trundled on—namely, how we would find and pick up new furniture once we reached Portland. Jay also studied up for his phone interview with an energy conservation group in Oregon, which he will unfortunately have to conduct from the road on Thursday.

After another pit stop and driver switch we crossed into Ohio around 4pm, excited to be done with our long day of driving and to spend some time with Stu Cubbon’s parents.