Road Trip!

One summer in college, my roommates and I decided to take a road trip to North Carolina. We were young, crazy and full of energy that I can't even imagine now. We left Utah at 6 pm and drove through the night straight to Charlotte. After a few near death experiences with a herd of deer in Eastern Colorado, another when my roommate was driving drowsy in Tennessee and after repairing a flat tire in Kansas, we finally made it back in a week or so... unharmed, happy and ready for another trip!

Oh how my traveling stamina has changed since then!

Last week I was enjoying camp with the 90+ 5th graders. We had beautiful weather and fun times until Tuesday night when we received sad news. My Grandma Holsten in Missouri had passed away. I hadn't seen her in 10 years. She turned 99 last November and we all had big plans to go visit her and the rest of our relatives in Missouri this summer. Of course, all of us felt guilt for not having gone there sooner. Grandma was a strong little lady, amazingly healthy and happy for being nearly a century old!

Doug was awesome. He was already being Super Dad by watching the kids all week while I was at camp. After I talked to him, he took charge. He checked airline flights, called my brothers, my sisters and talked with my

parents. He called me back and had arranged me to ride with Allie and Tom the next morning. We would make the marathon trip to Missouri in 2 days, stay for a few days, then come back.

I knew it would mean so much to my dad for us to be there, but being 7 months pregnant, I wasn't sure I wanted to drive there! I had a selfish hour when I didn't want to leave camp early (I'd been so excited for camp week all year!). I shed tears, mostly out of frustration in myself for my refusal to make a decision! I didn't want to drive, but knew that if I ended up paying the large amount for a flight that Allie and Tom may not be able to go... but in

the end I decided I had to ride with them. By the time I had packed and got back on the road to go home Wednesday night I was looking forward to the road trip ahead.

And we had a great time. I hadn't seen many of my cousins for 14 years. But we all had an instant camaraderie. We hugged, laughed, cried and shared many stories about our crazy visits to see them in the summers of our youth. The funeral was very nice. We spent the day in Stover where my Dad grew up and where my grandma lived until this last year when she finally sold her house and moved to Kansas City with my Dad's sisters. It brought back many memories!

We dragged our feet when it was time to leave. We were having such a great time with our family. But with

promises that my cousins were going to come visit us in Washington, we finally left Kansas City Sunday night around 6:30 pm. We drove 6 hours Sioux Falls SD, stayed the night then drove the entire next day to Cheney WA. Allie and I finished our drive to the Tri-Cities Tuesday morning. Wow! Somehow I'm not as tired as I should be. But I know I'm not quite ready to get back in the car!

Here is a map of our journey to the Midwest. According to Google, it would have taken us 26 days to walk this far! (That is without stopping to sleep or eat). I am thankful for a big backseat in a vehicle. :)