Day 1: Zooming to Minnesota

Day 1:  Our two-week road trip to Montana and the Grand Tetons begins today.  The goal was to leave at 6:00 am.  This is always my ploy to get off by at least noon. Today we pulled away from the curb at 7:30 am, feeling very smug about being only an hour and a half late.  No last-minute flurries, no cries of despair, no desperate wiping down the bathroom sinks or sweeping the kitchen floor.  All was in order, everything fit in the trunk, nothing was forgotten or left behind.  Success!

Another good thing that happened was that my friends must have remembered to pray.  I had expressed fears that Phil and I might do serious bodily harm to each other over differences in driving habits.  The first day of a road trip is always touchy.  But I was given grace to keep my mouth closed, and to render compliments and encouragement as needed.  The day passed without a serious altercation, and we drove our trusty old Buick laden with camper and bikes and suitcases and food chests through the farmland and forests of Michigan, the freeways of Chicago, and the pastoral dairyland of Wisconsin without incident, arriving at Neal and Estee’s home in Eagan just before dinner, after ten hours of travel.

Phil had opined, “We’ll stop every two hours to stretch our legs,” but once he got on the road it was tough to stop.  We realized that it takes at least a day to move out of the “get to our destination as fast as possible” mode and into “the journey IS our destination” mode.  So.  More potty stops in our future, hopefully.

Neal and Estee hosted a rack of lamb dinner, with roasted vegetables and a great wine.  We are tempted to stay here and be spoiled for two weeks, rather than face the rigors and privations of camping.