The Adventure

So glad you stayed tuned (or for tuning back in) for the rest of the story.

My wife and I got up at 6:30 on Saturday, Dec 18 and left the house an hour later. The car was packed to the brim with a dog kennel, suitcase, bags, Christmas presents, skis, shoes, snacks, a couple dogs, and a married couple (that'd be my wife and I). We drove South to Iowa City, and then due West along I-80 stopping for bathroom breaks, gas, and snacks along the way.

The first leg of our journey was to be 1507 miles and (according to the all knowing maps) should have taken 23 hours 31 minutes. Unfortunately, we had to stop for the reasons mentioned previously and the blizzard blowing across Wyoming introduced me to one of the most terrifying few seconds of my driving life.

We passed the time by talking, listening to podcasts (Dave Ramsey, Ravi Zacharias, Dan Miller, Car Talk, Matt Chandler), and audio books (Lone Star Planet, War of the Worlds). It only took us 32 hours to get to Nampa, Idaho, where my parents live, and we were a lot more exhausted than we had planned to be. If you're the learning type, learn this: for a 23 and 31 minute drive, plan to stop in a hotel--especially when blizzards are afoot.

There's no time for tiredness at my family's house, so we got right to the business of having fun: hot springs swimming, snow angel (in swim trunks) making, mountain cabin renting, snow shoeing, skiing, snow sculpting, caroling, partying, downhill sledding, baking, board gaming, snowball fighting, coffee drinking, puzzle assembling, sister's knee surgery-ing... those 6 days were packed with years worth of memories.

Leg 2 of the adventure began, and we piled the cargo, dogs, and snacks back in the car for an estimated 1608 miles in 26 hours. We had the presence of mind at that point to get a hotel in Denver, Colorado. A few car wrecks in Utah reminded us to drive carefully, but after Wyoming, it was smooth sailing. We listened to more podcasts and audiobooks (The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Henry Ford's Own Story), and soon we arrived in Watauga, Texas--home of my in-laws.

Becca has two sisters, each sister is married and between the two of them 5 children between the ages of 0 and 8 consumed the energy of all the adults in the household. We cooked food, watched How to Train Your Dragon, played Balderdash, told jokes, read books (The Millionaire Next Door), watched Despicable Me, took family photos, opened presents, and went on a triple date to see Tron Legacy. I'm just glad my in-laws and I get along so well, and a week with them was far too short.

The journey must go on though, so we packed up the car and drove 870 miles North-East (14 hours and 17 minutes) and arrived at our clean house late in the evening on the 3rd of January. We arrived just in time for me to get a rather nasty stomach bug (still not quite done with it). It was a wonderful Christmas, but I think I'm ready for a regular schedule again.