Every time we decide to take a trip Chuck lays out the same strategy: “Cindy, We need to have the van packed and loaded by 4:00 PM the night before. We’ll sleep in our travel clothes. I want to pull out of the driveway at ‘first light.’” To this I reply, “Yes, Dear, it’ll be ‘first light’ somewhere in the world."
I used to believe that the chance of us leaving anywhere near ‘first light,’ local time, was about as good as Ted Turner finding religion or Satan opening a Snow Cone stand.
Every time we decide to take a trip Chuck lays out the same strategy: “Cindy, We need to have the van packed and loaded by 4:00 PM the night before. We’ll sleep in our travel clothes. I want to pull out of the driveway at ‘first light.’” To this I reply, “Yes, Dear, it’ll be ‘first light’ somewhere in the world."
I used to believe that the chance of us leaving anywhere near ‘first light,’ local time, was about as good as Ted Turner finding religion or Satan opening a Snow Cone stand.
This time, however, we managed to beat the odds and break our streak. Granted, I stayed up almost all night to do it, but I managed to have the bags packed, van loaded and house cleaned (can’t leave town with a messy house!) and we pulled out of the driveway at 6:30 AM. It was only 6:44 AM by time we realized we forgot Chris’s glasses, drove back to the house, found them and left again.
We had further decided to pack all the food we were going to need for the trip to eliminate the myriad time wasting snack stops we typically make. The end result was that we were able to drive from Round Rock, TX to Kirksville, MO in 17 hours. 17 hours! We didn’t even have to get a hotel!
What’s Kirksville, MO? That’s where my sister and her family now happen to live. It’s a very small town in northern MO, population 17,000 during the University school year. It’s one of those towns where you see stores called “Salon and Bait Shop” on the main street. There’s a town square, one major grocery store, a smattering of nationally known fast-food chains and lots of mom and pops. I loved it. In fact, Chuck and I both loved it. And it was COLD. It actually felt like November for a few blissful days.
I met my darling nephew, Josh, for the first time. I got to see my beautiful niece, Emily, who has grown so tall over the past 4 years. I even almost had a conversation or two with my brother-in-law, Steve; a very nice guy who speaks mainly in grunts and military slang.
Best of all, I got to spend time with my sis. It’d been far too long. She hasn’t changed a bit.
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner. Steve deep fried a Turkey, which turned out wonderfully. Lynda made a couple of casseroles – sweet potato and corn-bread. I made cranberry sauce (don’t tell anyone how easy it is). Of course, we had the mashed potatoes, gravy and dinner rolls. Lynda also turned me on to Gluehwein – Mmmmm, I’m making that for Christmas.
We defied ALL odds to repeat the same departure schedule on our return trip. Chuck was so tickled over how we managed to make the round-trip in two driving days that he couldn’t get over it. I can’t count the number of times that he’d mention how tickled he was at our organizational feat. After we got home, got the kids to bed and turned in for the night, he looked over at me with one of those ‘smiles.’ “What?” I asked coyly.
“I just can’t believe how efficient that trip was,” he sighed.
Oh, well, whatever it takes!