We Arrived!

Although we were unable to post for several days, we made it to MN, taking only one extra day despite HORRIBLE winter weather.



Monday, December 22, was cold with lots of snow on the road. Traveling through southern Vermont was slow because of that. Ahhh...but the views were something else. The New York Thruway was fine until we got near Syracuse. Snow and wind were strong. The radio told us the area was experiencing "lake effect snow. " At a rest area Bill asked a local resident about trying to skirt the lake effect by traveling south to Scranton. The fellow recommended we stay put and suggested a local Red Roof Inn that had a wonderful Italian restaurant nearby. This was around 2 P.M. Bill was itching to push on, but Mag's knuckles were suffering. I don't mind driving in the snow....it's snow AND speed that make me crazy. (ummm, crazier)



The food at "Joey's" proved to be very good. So was the beer we bought and drank as soon as we got into the motel room. But the computer would not work.



On Tuesday morning we got up early and headed off. The highway was dry and the sky was very overcast. We drove for 500 miles, landing in a little town in Indiana called Elkhardt. It too had a Red Roof Inn that was situated right off Route 80. It was surrounded by several restaurant chains. We chose the Texas Roadhouse. The fillets were fantastic. We have been splitting meals, and that has worked out well.

On Wednesday morning the forecast in Elkhardt was dismal. But at 7:00 a.m. we set off anyhow, determined to keep driving as long as the precipitation remained rain only. We contacted Mike and he compared travel over 94 up into Wisconsin to following 80 to DesMoines and then up into Minnesota on 35. Although the latter route was longer, the weather in DesMoines was clearing by noontime. We were driving to the sun!

Highway 80 in Iowa was a graveyard for cars and trucks. Most of the spin offs seemed to have happened during the night, as snow covered the accidents. But, it was daunting nevertheless. The temperature kept dropping and we did go through some snow showers around Davenport. When Mag was driving (never more than a couple of hours) she tried to pick a good truck to follow, looking for one that slowed down before bridges and snow-covered roadway. Snow was blowing and drifting. But the sun did come out before DesMoines. We had 200 more miles to go! We drove 700 miles on Christmas Eve, but made it to Mike and Robin's at 6:30 P.M. We had been in the car nearly 12 hours! The boys were playing with new Christmas toys when we got in. Kyle has a new remote control Monster car that he was driving all over, and giggling his head off. Ahh, pure joy. We had made it!