On the Road Again

If all goes as planned we'll be returning from our Midwestern Road Trip today.  IM decided he would stay home, he ended up having a brief break in the case he's working on, but not enough to make it worth the time or the money to leave Denver at 6am, land in Michigan at 10pm, spend two days and reverse the process.  So the kids and are I driving the new car on its first adventure with us.  We have music loaded into the car's hard drive (no, I'm not kidding...the car has a hard drive, kind of like a moving MP3 player) and have just a couple movies in case I give in and allow viewing of the DVD player (yeah, that was the only reason I didn't like this car...so far we have put a DVD in to make sure it works, then turned it off).  We'll see.  We also have the "grab bag" of activities ("Say the alphabet backwards", "What famous people, living or dead, would you choose to have dinner with and why", etc.), several books on CD, and lots of food to eat at rest stops ("No eating in the new car!!!!")

Our plan goes like this...I'll write you a full report on what we actually do after  we are home!
Monday, July 21  Leave home at a ridiculously early hour, drive through the countryside to pick up I-70 and drive east to Blue Springs MO.  Stay at a Quality Inn and collect some points towards a free night.  Possibly visit a giant concrete teepee in Kansas (It looks kind of like the Cozy Cone from Cars!).

Tuesday, July 22 Continue driving east to Central Indiana and the home of one of my oldest friends.  P and I met in 3rd grade and her mom made her be my friend.  In high school, when I became less whiney, we actually did become friends.  We'll stay with her and her family for two nights and hopefully find some fun ways for the kids to entertain themselves so we can chat and relax.

Thursday, July 24  Leave P's house and drive north through Indiana. If the weather is good and we get an "early" start, I'd like to stop at Purdue and in the town I lived in when I was growing up.  We plan to arrive in time for lunch at the home of my friend, S and her husband, let the kids play with the feral kittens and run around the farmyard, and camp out in their computer room for the night.  My mom and dad plan to arrive about the same time, so we'll have some grandma and grandpa time, too.  And my dad can help me with "shortcuts" for the next part of our trip.  When I was in high school, S was my piano teacher.  She and my mom have been great friends for a long time, in fact, joking that S is my sister at times.  S made IM and my wedding cake (it was banana, best cake ever).  S's son spent a lot of time with us when we were kids...he has three adorable little boys now and lives within walking distance of my brother!

Friday, July 25 promises to be a busy day.  We'll temporarily split from my parents, driving north again (possibly along the same route as them at the beginning!) and meeting up with IM's sister, her husband, and my nephew for lunch near where they are vacationing with her in-laws.  After lunch, we'll cruise about another two hours down the road and stop for ice cream/coffee/playground time with IM's college roommate and his wife, who are vacationing without their kids for a couple days.  The final stop for the day will be to head for Ludington, Grandude's hometown, to meet up with Grandude and his sisters for the night. (And hopefully a visit to House of Flavors Ice Cream!)

Saturday, July 26 Grandude is leaving early to catch the Badger ferry across Lake Michigan so he can begin his trip home.  We'll move a little slower and make a stop at a grocery store to pick up something for a potluck at a park with my mother's family.  We'll meet back up with my folks, then travel to Mt. Pleasant, home of Central Michigan, their first alma mater, for the night, possibly meeting up with my mom's college roommate.

Sunday, July 26  After church, maybe at the church my folks were married in, we'll head north towards my dad's hometown of Rogers City, where my folks have reserved a cabin at the state park for the week.  We stayed at the same cabin in 2009, it is a great place!  We used to camp at this state park every summer and visit my grandparents, so it is really fun to show my kids all the places I used to play. My brother and his family will join us.  We have a lot of activities planned and/or penciled in...visiting the local museums (one with a display about my grandfather), playing on the beach, possibly going to Mackinac Island, taking a tour of the Calcite plant, participating in the Nautical City Walk/Run....

Sunday, August  3 We plan to check out of the cabin before church.  After attending the church my grandparents were members of for fifty years, we'll probably grab lunch and head south/west.  This is the part of the trip that isn't decided well yet.

If we saw you during this trip ,we already miss you...and if we missed you, sorry....there just aren't enough hours in the day!  Hopefully, you've all had a great summer-I headed back to school/work next week, if you can believe it!