A Day of Reckoning

Today we had a long driving day. We left Sioux Falls, SD and headed for Springfield, IL--about 620 miles, all told, and with some heavy rain through Cedar Rapids, IA. We went for a yummy treat of a dinner this evening at the Cracker Barrel--yum! and are settled at our hotel for the evening. Tomorrow we'll go to the Lincoln Library/Museum, and then we're headed only 5 more hours to Clayton, Ohio, to see the Howells and our doggie! No pictures today; the camera battery is dead, but there really wasn't much to photograph, anyway.

As we near the end of the heavy traveling and sightseeing part of the roadtrip, we've been doing some assessing of how we've done, what we could have done better, what are favorite parts have been, God sightings, etc.

We'll be able to determine this a bit better when we are actually home and unloading, but there have been only a few things that we have not used at all: the bag of regular bath towels, the picnic table cover, the big mosquito netting tent thingie, the square frying pan, and the Bag o' Fun. I packed the bag with stuff like games, books, and of course, the first two seasons of Gilligan's Island. I had high hopes of hours spent reading together in the car and playing games in the evenings--nice family time. It just didn't work out that way!! With the exception of Gilligan's Island, we have not used any of it! We will drive into Clayton, OH, with very little food left--some ham, turkey, and cheese, a few buns, and food we've used throughout the trip, having almost expended everything I purchased before the trip to be used (the 4 canisters of Slim Jims were the biggest hit of those items; the Planter's Flavored Almonds have been the least eaten; the Professor is almost out of the International Delight French Vanilla individual creamers--uh oh!!). We're almost out of napkins, paper plates, and forks. I think we did pretty well in our efficiency in packing for 29 days on the road, if I do say so myself. I can't make any comparison to the pioneers and their 100 lbs of bacon, 200 lbs of flour, etc. that they needed to pack in the covered wagon with them, but still!!

Used the most on our trip: a twin air mattress, sheet, and sleeping bag that Gilligan has used almost the entire trip. Camera, iPod Touches, DVD player in the Wessel Vessel (the Game Cube was used A LOT at first; we've put it away because it hasn't been used much at all since leaving CA). Our nalgene water bottles were used almost every day (except during the family reunion, when we had special hot/cold cups with our names on them). Computers. We have had 2 laptops with us.

We've experienced 6 National Parks/Monuments: Painted Desert/Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Zion, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, and Badlands. We'll be surveying everyone about what everyone's favorite has been; I'll let you know.

We've spent 6 nights in the company of dear friends. 6 nights at a beach house in Oceanside, CA with the Wessel Family. 8 nights in regular hotels/cottages. 3 nights in National Parks lodges. 3 nights camping (to include the covered wagons). And will be spending 3 nights in Ohio with my family before heading home.


By the time we're back in SC, we'll have been through 25 of 50 states. We've driven over 7,000 miles so far; it will top 8,000 before we're home. I can't even estimate how many hours we've spent in the Wessel Vessel.

I am happy to report that we are all reasonably sane, and aside from the normal sibling stuff and a few snappy moments after some long drives, everyone seems to still get along.

Although I don't think we need to do a trip like this with our children again, I sure am glad we've done it. I hope that the kids will have some wonderful memories, other than that their parents were nutso enough to take them on a trip of this magnitude. There are places that we just didn't have the time to go to; I would love to return sometime with the Professor and do some of them in the future. I would love to explore some things a bit more than we were able to. But I hope we've shown the kids what a beautiful country that we are blessed to live in. I think that with each and every trip, large or small, that we take with them, we expand their view of the world. They have already seen the differences in other countries from our time in Europe; they have now seen the differences in our own country. Not only with the landscapes, but with the people and their attitudes, outlooks, and even accents! Hopefully this will make them less leery and more apt to accept and celebrate some of those differences, rather than being afraid of them.

Enough of the ruminations for the evening. I'm sure I'll have more, another day!!