10.08.2011

The Trip - Part Two

DAY 2
We left Jessie's around 8am. Today's destination: Olathe, Kansas to stay at my sister Yara's. I was definitely looking forward to this stop, partly because we would take a day off driving the next day and also because I would get to see a bunch of my relatives.


I had a sore throat that morning, and the last thing I wanted was a cold. Maybe it was from reading the Hunger Games to Nate while he drove yesterday?

Most of our drive that day took us through Nebraska, where I was in awe at all the corn. It just goes on and on for miles! Regardless of the sore throat, I kept reading to Nate because there was nothing else to do (yes, he drove the entire trip- I don't do moving trucks, especially with a car trailer attached).

Again, we were only a few hours away when the fun began.


Our GPS took us all the way East to where we would have to cross the Missouri River. What the GPS didn't know was that there had been major flooding that year, and just about every crossing was closed. We tried two or three different routes, trying to find another way to Olathe without going an hour or more back the way we came. Finally we stopped at a gas station where there was yet another "Road Closed" sign, and I asked the man at the counter what to do. He immediately whipped out a copy of a map and highlighted the route for us, saying it had been like this for months. We gratefully went our way once again.

We made it to Olathe around 9:00 that night. We said hi to my niece and nephew before they went to bed, and then chatted with Yara and her husband Aaron for a little while before turning in ourselves. Of course when we told them about our detours, Aaron said, "Oh yeah. Coulda told you that..." Oops.

DAY 3
The next day was our no-driving day. Yara may or may not have skipped class to spend the day with us. We drove around Clinton Lake, went to downtown Lawrence for lunch, and checked out KU's campus. Then we went back to the house for naps before the Shultz Crew came over for pizza and general merry-making.

It was really fun to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins from that side of the family, because it doesn't happen very often, and they are one heck of an entertaining bunch. There are few laughter-free moments among that crowd, and Kansas blood definitely runs in their veins. I love it.

DAY 4
We left the next day after accidentally oversleeping by an hour. Whoops! I felt a little bad, because I think everyone got up earlier than normal to see us off. Guess we should've set a back-up alarm. Fortunately starting a little late was the only incident we faced that day, and it was much less frustrating than trying to find a way across a flooded river.

We made it to Dayton, Ohio sometime in the evening and grabbed dinner and some snacks at a grocery store. We think there must have been a dog food factory nearby, because the air reeked of Kibbles. It was really weird. We checked in to the only hotel of the trip, watched a movie, and went to sleep. It was nice to have an uneventful day.

Oh, and Indiana has just as much corn as Nebraska.

DAY 5
Finally made it to the last day of our trip. I think this was the longest- not in hours, but in I'm-ready-to-be-done-driving-for-the-rest-of-my-life-ness. We were done with our book (I still had a sore throat), we were sick of eating jerky, and there wasn't much in the way of music, unless you're really into Country, which we're not. There were more than enough hills for our truck to crawl up, and we averaged about 35-40 mph on those suckers. Going downhill was fun too; the brakes on a semi in front of us were smoking.


But we did make it. We rolled into Nate's driveway around 7pm, where my parents were waiting with big hugs and hot pizza.

I'll be ok if I never have to ride in a moving truck ever again.

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