Day 1- Tweed to Baltimore, MD
Originally, I was planning on leaving around 6am but Eddie spent Friday night and Saturday at his friend’s cottage so he slept in a little bit. We hit the road around 7:30am. Our first stop was for fuel at the Husky truck stop in Joyceville.
Eddie had to go to the bathroom. I turned my head for a minute and when I looked over, he was trying to get high enough to use the urinal by pushing himself up while touching the urinal. I said “Eddie, that’s gross, do you know how many people have peed on that?” He replied “how many” and I said “I don’t know, a lot”. His reply was “that’s not a number dad”. After a thorough hand cleaning we ate breakfast and hit the road. I must have been a little bit flustered from the urinal debacle because apparently, we left without paying for our meal. Luckily, I was driving a giant truck with the Gaylord logo on it, not to mention I always wear a Gaylord hat and Gaylord t-shirt so they knew where to find me. The truck stop left a message with the office and Elizabeth had to phone back and pay the bill over the phone. Oops!
Eddie was pretty excited when we got to the border because he wanted to use his new Nexus card. I don’t know what he thought it would do but he was disappointed with the outcome. The border guard took our cards, scanned our paperwork and sent us on our way. Eddie was under the impression there’d be much more fanfare involved in the whole process. He even said “that was boring”.
After crossing the border, we were on highway 81 for 375 miles to Carlisle, Pennsylvania where we cut east towards Baltimore. We passed Watertown, Syracuse, Binghamton, Scranton and Harrisburg. Eddie was confused when I asked the gas station attendant where the “restroom” was. Eddie said “why do they call it a restroom; you don’t sleep there”.
We got in to our hotel around 6pm. We had a bit of a hiccup when our GPS took us down a road with a low bridge. Eddie was confident our truck would get under it but I didn’t feel like making our cube van a convertible. Once we checked in, we grabbed a bite to eat and it was straight to the pool. Eddie made some friends and was showing them all our truck which was parked right outside the pool. It almost looked like a billboard. His new pal Kamari said he had never met anyone from Canada before so he had lots of questions for Eddie.
Eddie slept well that night.
Day 2 - Baltimore, MD to Shady Side, MD
We got up early Monday morning to head out for our delivery in Shady Side, Maryland. Eddie fell asleep about a minute after we got on the road. It took about an hour to get to the delivery which was on a beautiful dead-end street right on the ocean.
I didn’t want to wake Eddie up so I opened the door of the truck. About halfway through the delivery he woke up and came out. The flooring was 12-foot bundles so occasionally the smaller pieces fall out, Eddie was very helpful in bringing them in. That kept him busy for a little while but soon he was bored. There was a wheelbarrow full of cut off cedar shakes so Eddie decided to put them on the truck everywhere he could, the tires, running boards and even the mirrors.
The project was a large addition and the homeowner was still living in the main house. Eddie drew her a thank you card on the way down so I sent him over with a bottle of maple syrup. He rang the doorbell and I think she fell instantly in love. Eddie can be really sweet when he wants to be. She had four boys of her own so I think a rambunctious 5-year-old brought back some memories. She was thrilled with the flooring and I think the 8” White Oak Live Sawn Natural is the perfect choice.
We left Shady Side, Maryland around 9:30 and headed back for our hotel in Baltimore. At the hotel we freshened up and called an Uber to head downtown. We went directly to the Port Discovery Children’s Museum and Eddie was on cloud nine. It was incredible and he spent a few hours climbing and playing. I’d highly recommend visiting if you have kids and are ever in the Baltimore area.
Once he got that out of his system, we walked around the harbour. If you have never been to Baltimore, you should go! The downtown harbour is gorgeous and the weather was perfect, albeit slightly hot. Our plan was to take the water taxi across the harbour to The Rusty Scupper for lunch. Every previous visit to Baltimore involved a visit there and I wanted to take Eddie. Unfortunately, we spent a little too long at Port Discovery so our time was limited. We ended up going to a different restaurant. The meal was pretty good but from what I remember about The Rusty Scupper, it left a lot to be desired.
Our next visit was to the ballpark at Camden Yards for an Oriole’s vs Blue Jays’ game at 3pm. I’m not a huge baseball fan but I love the charm of an old ballpark. Even though it’s not an old-fashioned baseball park like Fenway, it has the same vibe. When we got there, Eddie picked out an Oriole’s hat which is his new favourite treasure. Eddie really enjoyed the game but he was pretty sweaty because it was hot. I think I was the only one in the whole stadium with pants on. Since we were wandering around town all day, I needed to bring sunscreen (etc.) and the pockets of my shorts couldn’t fit everything. Eddie and I bet on the game; he had the Orioles and I had the Blue Jays. He was pretty pumped when the Orioles won but realized we hadn’t bet anything so he only had the bragging rights. We always tell Eddie how important it is for him to be kind and friendly. He has the power to make anyone’s day. There was a homeless lady sitting outside of the stadium. Eddie went over and kindly said “hi, I’m Eddie, I really hope you can get a home soon”. She lit up with a big smile and I was really caught off guard. We waited with her for our Uber and wished her well as we left. When we got to our hotel it was 7:30pm so we grabbed a quick bite to eat and it was off to bed.
Day 3- Baltimore, MD to Pocono Mountains, PA
After a good 10-hour sleep, we were up at 6am and ready to get on the road. Our next stop was to visit our main supplier. We headed north west through Carlisle and made our way to his mill near Huntington. It’s very secluded and in the mountains. We were driving a regular cube van, so it amazes me that we can get 53’ transport trucks in there.
We got to the mill around 11am. This is the mill that cuts our live sawn white oak, hickory and walnut. He has a beautiful set up and couldn’t be any closer to the logs. Pennsylvania has so many beautiful trees which are all around him making his location perfect. Pennsylvania has the most beautiful lumber in the world, especially the white oak. It’s also amazing that, even with the demand for white oak, the forests are growing faster than they are being removed, especially in central Pennsylvania where our wood comes from. The volume of white oak in Pennsylvania is increasing by 20 million cubic meters each year according to the American Hardwood Council. That’s in contrast to areas of the world like Russia where most of the “European Oak” is sourced.
Pennsylvania is such a beautiful state. It’s almost completely blanketed by the Appalachian Mountains with the Allegheny Mountains to the West and the Poconos to the East. The Blue Ridge Mountains also begin in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and span 615 miles southwest to Georgia. After referring to them all as “mountains”, Eddie decided to challenge that description. He said “dad, they aren’t mountains, because they don’t have snow at the top, they are hills.” After that he was silent for a bit, but I could tell the wheels were turning in his little mind. Then he said “dad, if mountains are high, they are closer to the sun, so they shouldn’t have snow on them.” My response of course was “as elevation rises, air molecules spread apart due to decreased atmospheric pressure, leading to a temperature decrease. When there are fewer molecules in a given space, the air is less capable of absorbing and retaining heat, resulting in cooler temperatures experienced at higher elevations.” Just kidding. My response was “I don’t know buddy; we’ll ask Alexa when we get home.” I’ve done a little bit of research and there’s varying theories on what defines a mountain but I will still refer to them as mountains, unless Eddie is with me.
After being in the truck for about 4 hours Eddie was quite high strung. I had to remind him several times to be careful. After all, we’re at a lumber yard with forklifts and loaders flying around everywhere. Also, plenty of equipment that’s very dangerous for a curious 5-year-old. Emma and I travel quite a bit with the kids for work so we have a pretty good system. Before visiting a client or a supplier we’ll stop at a park and let them blow off some steam right before. They’re calmer and better behaved. In this case, we were up in the mountains of Pennsylvania surrounded by millions of acres of forest so I wasn’t afforded that opportunity.
Our supplier is a very serious guy with a handshake that basically crumples your hand. I’ve worked and visited a lot of lumberyards over the last 30 years (yes, you heard that right). This operation is the best of the best. Most of the equipment is homemade and it’s beautiful. Every time I visit, he has something new built. He has an amazing new sorting line with a planer and hydraulic lift. Other than the planer, he built the whole system himself. I know that means nothing to most people but I’m so amazed at how hardworking and talented John is. Of course, we could shop around for every truckload and probably get better prices like most flooring manufacturers. We’d rather develop a relationship and John is the best in the world at what he does. We’re loyal to him and he’s loyal to us. During Covid when there were lumber shortages, we had the material available to us. The reason for that was simple: we treat our supplier’s great no matter what. Large manufacturers have purchasing agents whose job is literally to get the lowest price from the mills. They beat them up for the best price and stretch out their payment terms. There’s always lumber available but all of those flooring manufacturers who told their customers “there is no lumber available” really didn’t share the whole story. If they can’t get the lumber when it’s scarce, it means they didn’t treat people well when it was plentiful.
We spent a few hours there, where I did my best to educate Eddie on the entire process. I’m not sure how much he retained but you never know. Sometime we’ll discuss something and a month later he’ll bring it up. After a few hours we hit the road again. Our next stop was the Kalahari Waterpark in the Pocono Mountains. I’ve driven by it 100 times and always wanted to stop. This was our opportunity. It was another 3.5 hours of driving but we finally got there around 5:30pm. What an amazing place. When we pulled up Eddie’s eyes were wide. It is massive and there’s replica African animals everywhere outside. We checked in and Eddie was super excited to get his own wristband that unlocks our room.
We hurriedly got our bathing suits on and headed down to the waterpark. First, we had to walk through the arcade which was pretty exciting for Eddie. He wanted to stay and play all of the games and was a little annoyed when I took him out of there to the waterpark (poor kid). We were at the waterpark from 6pm until almost 9pm. Surprisingly Eddie was tall enough to go on most of the slides, he may have been on his tippy toes. He was a little bit timid to try one of the large slides but we had been listening to the Ed Mylett podcast on the drive so he decided to just “go for it”. After that I couldn’t keep him off the slides.
By the time we were finished at the waterpark, we were hungry and went straight to one of the many restaurants at the Kalahari. We both ordered burgers and they were branded on the top with a B. Since it was so late, the restaurant was turning more into a bar and Eddie was a little out of place. He was drinking a Shirley temple and people at the bar beside were doing tequila shots. Both of us slept well that night.
Day 4- Pocono Mountains, PA to Home Sweet Home
After breakfast we headed straight back to the waterpark. Eddie spent a few hours there and we went back to the room and got ready to head out for the day.
Our first stop was to visit a project in hemlock farms for Clemleddy Construction. It was a beautiful home with a 4” White Oak Natural floor. Again, we didn’t have a chance for Eddie to burn off some steam. It was only an hour in the truck but that’s enough for Eddie to get a little wound up so he was a bit hyper when we got there. They were in the middle of the install and Charles the installer said our flooring is the best he’s ever installed. He has installed a lot of our flooring over the years but even more of our competitors so it’s a great compliment. Obviously, the main goal is to have the homeowner love the finished product. But we also want everyone to love the floor/process from the installer to the designer to the builder.
Our next and final stop was to visit the Clemleddy Construction. Clemleddy has been one of my favourite clients for well over 10 years. I’ve gotten to know everyone very well. It’s a family business like us and they are just great people to work with. They are based in Hawley, Pennsylvania and build a lot around Lake Wallenpaupack. Everyone at the office loved Eddie and we got a great photo of him with most of the team. Obviously, it took several takes because Eddie was being really silly.
We left around 1pm and still had about 6 hours of driving to go. My plan was to drive straight through but Emma had other plans. We had to FaceTime her from target in Watertown and do some shopping. Target is Emma’s favorite store and she always gives me a list or guides me through. We had to get a birthday present for one of Ophelia’s friends and also their cousin so it worked out well. This was Wednesday and Eddie’s birthday was Friday so I allowed him to pick out a present. He chose very carefully which delayed our departure even more but, in the end, he was very happy with his Akedo Warrior.
We left target and I noted an Ulta beauty store next door. Normally I’d have no reason to visit a beauty store, especially with Eddie but there was something I wanted to check out. My brother Dave owns a company called BushBalm and his products are sold at Ulta. It’s pretty awesome that my little brother is selling his products to a company with over 1400 locations. Eddie was pretty pumped to see the BushBalm section and I was just so proud. I actually teared up in the store a little bit.
It was around dinner time so we had to grab something quick to eat. We decided on Chick-fil-A. Eddie had never been and he said the chicken nuggets were the “best he’s ever had”. The remainder of our trip home was quite uneventful, even at the border crossing. Eddie was polite and introduced himself, even told them it was his birthday in a few days.
We arrived home around 9:00pm and I was super happy to get home. Eddie really missed Emma and Ophelia so I wanted him to go into the house first. He called for Emma and Ophelia and Ophelia ran down the stairs and they embraced with a big hug. He whispered “I love you” in her ear and my heart melted. They get along most of the time but do have disagreements. What siblings don’t?
All in all, it was a great road trip.