Last night, Kim announced that getting home today was doable. He laid out his plan and then set an alarm. Unlike other mornings, I was sleeping quite soundly when that sucker went off….at 6 a.m.!! Come on…It’s still dark outside! On the road by seven o’clock. It didn’t take me long to make myself comfy in the truck and doze off. Figured as long as Rapunzel was guiding us and Kim stayed awake, we were golden. They didn’t need me.
Of course, getting up that early and being about 150 miles from the Chicago area meant the possibility of getting caught in rush hour madness. I have Rapunzel set to avoid toll roads, so she had us on I-80 and then skirting around on surface streets to get us where we wanted to go. I’m not sure I would have been excited to pull a camper through town traffic, but Kim didn’t complain. Traffic wasn’t crazy busy on I-80…or at least from what I saw the few times I peeked my eyes open.
Decided I was going to wear shorts all the way home. By the time we got to the truck, the sky was getting lighter and the temperature was tolerable to bare legs.
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Got the cell cam videos to under 300 yesterday…today I finished ‘em off. Found a couple more of roadrunners, ground squirrels and quail.
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It has not gone unnoticed what a better place both of us are in on the trip home as opposed to the trip out. Kim’s stiff neck preventing him from turning his head without turning his whole body and my respiratory shit both cleared up after about a week in Arizona. I’m sure it’s the dry heat.
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We saw signs of spring as we crossed the country…green fields, trees budding, daffodils and dandelions popping up. The weather has been pleasant the entire time. Wind had been minimal, confined to gusts…well, until we got to Michigan, that is. Not quite like the wind we’ve experienced in Kansas or Texas but windier than it's been to this point. We’ve not had any issues with the truck, other than the ‘nail in the tire’ comedy back in mid-March and needing an oil change the other day. It has performed like a champ. And every tight spot Kim has gotten us into when pulling the camper, he has gotten us out of with ‘no damage to speak of’. Those were his words after the camper bumped against a post at a gas station yesterday. I asked him, “If you were to speak of the damage, how would you describe it?”, but he didn’t get my humor on that one. But, honestly, with the exception of that little bump, he has done a spectacular job of navigating us through every little thing Rapunzel and I came up with and some things he came up with on his own.
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Dropped Mom off at her house at about 4:15 and then we hit the road to head up to our little part of the Mitten.
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Drove into our driveway at about 7:30 p.m. While it was a good getaway, this was the longest we’ve been gone…54 days, including travel time. It feels so good to be home and I’m looking forward to getting back into my real life but first there is sleep. And unpacking can wait until tomorrow….after we see the grandkiddos