From Our Nation's Capital to the Potato Capital

After years of living in our Nation's Capital we decided that the time was right for a change.  It helped that Roland was offered a great job that was too good to pass up.  Even his previous employers agreed that it was a no brainer move.  So, this beauty of a moving truck showed up and the moving men started packing us up.  The man that came out and estimated the move was sooooo far off it would have been comical if it hadn't messed up everyone's schedule.  What was supposed to be a half day move was actually a 3 day move with the moving guys working late into the night.  We wanted to be on the road by Saturday morning but ended up leaving at 7:00 in the evening.  We made it all of about 70 miles from D.C.

Roland and I both had to drive as transporting cars wasn't part of the package.  I thought I'd pull out all my hair by the time we hit the Mississippi with how slow Roland was driving.  I finally called him on his cell and told him I couldn't stand following him anymore and I was taking the lead.  We eventually figured out that his speedometer was off.  I was able to talk him into the fact that it was his car, not mine, by pointing out the people passing him, including little old women in Pintos.  The drive went much faster after this discovery.

Our plan was to go through middle America then up to see Mount Rushmore.  When the unexpected spring snow storm hit, that closed all the roads, we ended up changing our plans and spending two days in what I'll call CornHuskerVille.  Since Roland had the map the whole time I've no idea what state we were in but remember chuckling when seeing a sign for Cornhusker Bank.  I honestly thought it was a joke until I spotted another branch.

In this lovely "Corn" place my mood was greatly improved when a waitress whacked Roland in the head with a serving tray.  She didn't hit him hard but the look on her face and Roland's feigning a concussion to get a free dessert was the comic relief I needed after having my hands glued to a steering wheel for 8 hours.  The kids kept scolding me for laughing "at their Dad" but I just couldn't stop.  Kind of like right now.

We made several stops along the way, but again, I wasn't in possession of the map so I'm rather unclear on our route.  I swear I saw the "Welcome to Illinois" sign twice.  I think this was Roland's way of making sure I didn't blaze past him and meet him in Utah.  I must admit the thought crossed my mind.  Especially, when both kids were in his car. Smart Man.

We saw some great country, stopped at fun places and made it safely to our destination.  When we drove into our "town" the culture shock hit me.  The Smithsonian had been replaced by a Tractor Museum, a cow had an antenna strapped to it's back (that may have been a hallucination brought on by hyperventilation) and our Minivan was the smallest vehicle on the road.  When we got to our temporary housing I was in total shock and was completely silent for a full 24 hours.

More on that in my next post.....