A/N: I know it has been quite a while since I updated this story. I was a little sidetracked by other stories. I will finish this story.

Chapter 26 – Final Preparations and Start of Route 66 Trip

Their trip to Georgia had been nice and Jane did in fact prevent Maura from purchasing too much wine. If Maura had her way, she would have had about four more cases. Jane did let her splurge on this one red wine that she really enjoyed at one of the wineries. She couldn't believe that it was priced at almost double all of their other wines, but then it was very delicious. She could tell that this winery took pride in that particular red wine. Jane wasn't much of a wine drinker but that wine caught her attention and Maura purchased several cases of it.

When they arrived back in Boston, they had to unpack and store the RVs. Jane and Steve had agreed to wash the RVs and get them ready for storage. It wouldn't be too long before they went on another trip but their HOAs did not allow them to store their RVs on their property.

"Steve, we need to take the RVs down and get them cleaned up and stored. How is tomorrow morning?"

"I can be available tomorrow morning. Is 8 AM okay?"

"Hell no, that is way too early. How about 9 AM that will give me a chance to get some coffee in me first."

"You are getting soft Jane. 8 AM is not early. I can remember you telling me about all of your early wake up calls and how after a cup of coffee you would be fine."

"Yes, well that was a few years ago. I am retired now so I should be able to sleep in a little."

"Whatever, see you here at 9 AM, whimp."

"Hey now." Jane said with a huge smile. She loved her interactions with Steve. He had become a good friend through the years.

"9 AM Jane, 9 AM."

Steve and Jane met at the storage facility at 9 AM the next morning. They needed to clean the RVs up before parking the RVs until their next trip. Gen and Maura had decided to give them about an hour before they went to pick them up.

When Gen and Maura arrived, they could see their spouses with the RVs and pulled up along side them. Maura was on a video call with Kate and Carina. They were discussing wedding plans. Maura was so excited to be helping her youngest daughter with her wedding. She had been so disappointed when Lily eloped.

Gen had driven, she had picked up Maura as they wanted to have brunch after they picked up Jane and Steve. Gen parked her Jeep and they walked over to Jane. Jane was emptying the waste tank and apparently didn't have the hoses connected properly and when she turned the handle, human waste splashed all over her.

Maura walked up to Jane just as Jane had turned the handle. Jane turned the handle to turn off the hose and insisted on greeting her wife. Maura didn't want her to touch her as she was covered with human waste. Maura switched the view on the phone so that Kate could see Jane, Kate was quick to comment, "God Ma, you are really full of shit."

"Kate!" Maura exclaimed as Jane continued to try and wrap her arms around Maura.

"Mom, why are you running from Ma, don't you want her to hug you?"

"Kate, you know how much I love your mother but I don't want her to transfer any of the refuge onto me. Gen, please help me. Please keep Jane away from me, please." Maura pleaded as she looked at their friend for assistance.

"Maura, I will try but you know how Jane is when she wants something and right now, she wants to give you a hug." Gen tried to keep her distance as she didn't want to become collateral damage.

Carina was now on the call with Kate and couldn't believe what she was seeing, "Kate, you are recording this call aren't you?" Carina asked Kate.

Kate smiled at her and replied, "Yes babe, I am."

"Kate, turn that recorder off right now. I don't want any evidence of this situation young lady." Jane told her daughter.

"But Ma, you look so shitty right now. I have never seen you this way, so of course I have to record it." Kate said as she continued to laugh at her dark-haired mother.

"You wait until I see you in person young lady." Kate could see the laughter in her ma's face, she knew she was joking around with her.

"Good thing that is not for months. You are getting older and you will probably forget by then."

Carina looked at Kate and said, "Kate, that's not a nice thing to say to your mother."

"Yes, Carina is right Kate, you shouldn't talk to me like that." Jane said as she finally caught up to Maura and proceeded to hug her and smear crap all over her. Gen showed up right then with a water hose and squirted the couple as Kate and Carina laughed in the background. Steve had the sense to pull his RV over to its parking spot and had just walked back over when Gen started hosing Jane and Maura down.

Gen put on a pair of gloves, the kind she used at crime scenes for so many years, and carefully grabbed the phone from Maura. She knew it was water resistant but she still wanted to protect Maura's phone as much as she could. "Bye Kate and Carina, your mothers need to get cleaned up." She then whispered into the phone, "Kate please send me the recording of this."

"Okay, as soon as I get it downloaded, I will edit it and send it to you. Same email address as before?" Kate asked.

"Yes, thank you." Kate had emailed Gen video footage before and Jane hated that Kate gave Gen ammunition to use against her. She loved that Gen loved her children and had a friendship with all of them. Although Gen seemed closer to Kate, which caused Jane concern over the years as various videos showed up in Gen's email.

Gen disconnected the call and wiped the phone down. She then pulled out the emergency clothes that Jane kept in the RV for her and Maura. She wrapped the clothes in a garbage bag along with two towels and sent the ladies on their way to the bathroom/shower area a few hundred feet away from their current location.

While Jane and Maura cleaned themselves up Steve finished cleaning up the RV and parked it in its parking spot. Gen moved her Jeep over by the restroom so they could leave when Jane and Maura finished getting cleaned up.

When Jane and Maura came out of the restroom, Gen heard Maura tell Jane, "Just throw the clothes away Jane. We are going out to brunch and I don't want those stinky clothes in the Jeep."

"But Maura, these are some of my favorite jeans. I love them."

"Jane, you know you shouldn't love material things. You should only love things that can love you back."

"My jeans love me back. I see the way you look at my behind when I wear them."

Maura had to agree, she loved the way the jeans fit her wife. She did love to look at her behind when she wore them. She just couldn't help herself, she loved her wife's body. "I will buy you a new pair, okay?"

"I don't want to go shopping Maur." Jane still hated shopping. She loved Maura and knew that Maura loved to shop but she didn't like it and still didn't want to go shopping with her wife.

"You don't have to. I will order them online and have them sent directly to the house." Maura knew Jane's size and just where she could order the jeans from. They would arrive in about two days and Jane could start breaking them in. The thought of Jane having to wear them to break them in excited Maura.

"Okay," Jane said as she gave Maura a quick kiss and headed over to the garbage can with the bag of soiled clothes. "You need to buy me a new pair of Chuck Taylors also."

"I will dear," Maura concluded as she climbed into Gen's Jeep, ready to go to brunch. Jane climbed in a minute later after she had dumped the soiled clothes in the nearby garbage can.

They spent the next few weeks finalizing their plans for their Route 66 trip. Gen and Maura were having fun planning all of the stops they wanted to make along the way. Jane and Steve had provided their input but didn't want to take part in the planning. Gen and Maura laid out the trip, they planned to depart on May 1st.

When May 1st came around, the RVs were all loaded and ready to roll. It was a Wednesday and they wanted to be in Chicago and see a few sights before they left on Monday morning to begin their two-week adventure.

They met at the Lee Service Plaza on I-90 West at 4:30 AM. The trip to Chicago was just under 1,000 miles. Their first overnight stop was Niagara Falls, New York, approximately 460 miles away. That is why they had left so early in the morning. They wanted to be at Niagara Falls before nighttime so that they could enjoy the view of the falls at night.

Jane didn't want to wake up. Maura grabbed their last-minute belongings and loaded them in the RV which they had permission to park outside their house for the night. The HOA had very strict rules about no RVs being parked on the premises. You were allowed to park them for one night while you loaded and prepared for your trip and that is what Jane had done.

Jane had attached the Jeep as they would be 'flat towing' it on their trip. There was no need for the added inconvenience of having to tow a trailer as both theirs and Gen's Jeep could be flat towed.

Jane had to have coffee first thing in the morning, so Maura had prepared something she hated, instant coffee. She used a disposable cup and a plastic spoon as to not dirty any dishes. The instant coffee was good enough to get Jane to the meet up location.

Jane didn't want Maura to dirty any dishes in the house before they left for their trip, so she made sure that the house was spotless. Jane had even taken out the garbage, without being reminded. MJ and Chrissy would look after the house for them while they were away on this trip.

Jane held the disposable cup of coffee in her hand as Maura led her out to the RV and buckled her into the passenger seat. Maura drove to the rest area for the initial meet up. Gen promised to have coffee ready for Jane. She knew quite well that the retired detective did not function well without coffee.

She remembered hearing stories of a cranky Jane at crime scenes when she hadn't been able to get a cup of coffee before arriving at the scene. After the first time Frost witnessed that, he made sure to have a cup of coffee for his partner. Maura appreciated that. Frost was a great partner for Jane and they worked well together.

Gen didn't just have coffee, she had all of Jane and Maura's favorite breakfast items. She wanted to start this trip off with a bang. She never envisioned when she met Jane all those years ago that they would be traveling around the world together with their spouses. Jane and Maura were her dearest friends and she appreciated them so much.

"Gen, do you think you might have gone a little overboard?" Jane asked her friend as she climbed out of the passenger side of their RV and admired the spread of food and beverages before her.

"I think she did, I tried to tell her that cinnamon rolls would have been just fine, but you know how my wife is." Steve stated as Jane and Maura gave them hugs and looked over the spread of food that Gen had prepared. There was bacon, eggs, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, oatmeal, orange juice and coffee. There was enough food to feed an army, but Gen knew how much Jane could put away first thing in the morning. She was surprised that Jane had not put on weight now that she wasn't boxing and doing a full workout routine every other day like she used to.

By 5:15 they were on the road. Jane was awake now and could drive. Steve was the other driver. It took them most of the day to travel to Niagara Falls. Stopping several times to take a break or see the sights. None of them wanted to rush the trip. Sure, they had an itinerary but it was flexible.

Jane had made sure that Maura agreed to let the itinerary be flexible before she agreed to go on the trip. She knew how Maura loved to plan almost every minute of their trips. If they decided they wanted to stay somewhere longer they would. After all they were retired now and they could do that. Maura didn't argue with Jane about that which surprised Jane, she had expected some push back. Maura was not being as strict as she used to be. Jane kind of missed that at times. She loved teasing Maura about the itineraries.

Jane and Steve had agreed that they never wanted their gas tanks to get below one quarter of a tank. The RVs were fuel efficient but they didn't want to get stranded anywhere. They carried extra gas cans in the Jeeps, which were being pulled behind the RVs.

The rest areas had nice restroom facilities so they decided they would not use the RV's bathrooms unless it was an emergency. They didn't stop at every rest area but they did stop at quite a few of them. Some of the rest areas were quite scenic and they enjoyed the brief break and being able to talk with one another.

When they arrived at the campground at Niagara Falls, Steve unattached their Jeep. They had agreed to alternate which Jeep would be used to drive around in at their stops. They drove the few miles to the falls and enjoyed the night view. They purchased their tickets for a night cruise and Maura made sure to take plenty of pictures. She still loved to take pictures and brought several cameras with her for their trip.

When they arrived back at the campground, they made smores and sat and talked for what seemed like hours. They all seemed to enjoy sitting around the campfire and chatting. They had been on many trips together and enjoyed each other's company. They had so many shared memories that Maura had managed to capture for them through her photographs.

The next morning, they ventured out to their next destination, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada where Jane and Steve discovered a local brewery that also specialized in cheeseburgers. Jane had told Maura and Gen that, "there is a cheeseburger joint operating right out of their taproom." Jane and Steve figured it was right up their alley and Maura and Gen agreed that Jane and Steve would love it, so they set their sights on Sarnia. The would be in Chicago the day after that stop.