Are we there yet???

Day Two

You know that scene in every family vacation movie where the father who still has to work during the trip has extreme problems with his technology….can’t find a signal, phone goes in the lake, etc.  Yea, that’s us.  We all brought laptops, smart phones, ipads, etc.  And of course, on the first morning, we lost a blackberry.   Found it awhile later, but caused a bit of a scare for a bit.  But yes, we are on VACATION.  

Enjoyed a nice breakfast with the Grandmother, then a group of us headed out in the rental car to spend the day in Chicago.  Kiki’s parents were there, and we were meeting up with them to spend the day.   I asked Nona as were were leaving, “Surely we don’t need the rainjackets, right?  It’s gorgeous out.”  And she agreed, “you definitely won’t need them.”  Famous last words. 

Btw, those of you whom we love, sweltering back east in the August heat, we are enjoying breezy, non-humid 70 degree days and even cooler at night!  Jealous?

So we got into Chicago, spent about an hour in the Swedish area near Wrigley field where Ma has friends, and Kiki’s grandparents live.  Then we took the L-train downtown.   As we were boarding the L-train, we noticed the dark, ominous looking clouds rolling towards the city from the northwest.    “Should I check the radar?” I ask the drivers.   Pulled out the ‘ol iphone (love that technology), and Weather Bug showed the nastiest looking red/orange storm……coming directly for us. 

We braved the rain the rest of the way to the Hancock building without umbrellas or ponchos….I mean, we are tourists!   While we looked down on the city from an amazing height, the storm cleared and the sun returned.   And the drive home along Lake Shore Drive was fantastic. 

Spent our last evening with Grandmother, and bedded down for another long, long, long....long, long day headed west.  

Day Three

Hmmm….what can you say about a 12-hour drive, mostly through Iowa.  You know, I thought we’d see more corn.  Has anyone seen the corn? (Oh yeah, there were some sunflower fields, pretty.)

Breakfast in Traveling Luxury

This was the day we started to loathe Traveling Luxury.  We literally played musical chairs every hour, as each one of us traded seats trying to stretch our legs, change the position of our hindquarters, nap, but not really nap.  (Remember the St Bernard analogy of Day 1).  

Saying Bye to Kiki's parents. Where's FFG?

Highlights of this day include topping at the Scenic View in Iowa to see the Missouri River.  I mean, literally this is in the middle of NOWHERE, and there were no other cars stopped for miles.  But there was this wooden stair tower for you to climb and see the view.  Look, there’s Nic…viewing.  (Sce-nic view?… Anyone?)  I think it was ruse for Rough & Tough to use the bathroom.  Where's FFG?

We also had some fun, when we pulled over one time for a bathroom break (remember we have a rental car with us, so those guys can’t use the spacious restroom on Traveling Luxury.  So we all pulled over on the side of the road, and Rough got out of the rental to start walking towards the RV.  In the meantime, in the RV, Tough had parked us at such a level on the shoulder that if we had all stood at one time, we were surely tipping like a pushed cow asleep at midnight.   So Tough pulled forward, stopped, then pulled forward again.   Only El Guapo driving the rental saw the Tommy Boy moment when Rough reached the RV, only to have it pull away from him, and repeat.   But we all died laughing upon hearing it later.  Should’ve installed that dashboard camera.

We finally reached our campground in Mitchell, SD around 9pm…oh, after eating dinner in Sioux Falls, at Arbys.  Did I mention that we also ate dinner at Arbys the first night?  I actually ordered the same thing.  We vowed not to eat Arby’s again for a month.

The campground was nice, El Guapo offered to jump in the pool with 5 & 7, which lasted about 2 minutes when 7 realized it was freezing.  Kiki and Tough slept in a tent, the rest of us (7 total) slept in every available space inside Traveling Luxury…but it was a nice night, and brought Nona & Pop-pop back into their old camping days which had disappeared back around 1983.   

So much more to come, stay tuned.