(Kim's Perspective)
I woke up around 4 am anticipating our departure. I stayed quietly in bed waiting for Bill to wake up and finally around 7, I couldn't stand it anymore and just got up. I let him sleep till 8:30 then finally went in to wake him up. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. "Get up, get up, we're hitting the road!" Woohooo! I have been so excited about this trip. In 2010, I developed a bug for travel that can't be cured. Very few people we know understand what this bug is all about, but we're about to introduce this little menace to great friends of ours. Bill and Shele (aka "The Sitts") are joining us this year for our travel adventure. Bill and Shele are flat lander lake dwellers and we're super stoked about introducing them to the world of travel West of the Mississippi. So....the adventure begins.
The Sitts had to work today so we were planning a late afternoon departure. Bill and I headed up to the compound around 12:30 and prepped the camper for departure. The excavators were there working so we got somewhat delayed talking to them...and paying them for part 2 of the job...ouch....so we didn't end up leaving until 4:15 or so. It was great to get started and on our way, but I got a little teary-eyed that we would be on this adventure without our beloved Monkeys with us. I hung their collars in the backseat as a tribute so that we could, in perhaps an odd but meaningful way to me, take them along with us.
Lane, as always, adapted immediately. He's a total adventure kitty and I'm certain is the best travel cat in the world.
The Sitts were able to leave work a little early, so we made arrangements to just head out separately and meet up in Wheeling, WV. They arrived an hour before we did, but spent time and money in a nearby Cabela's until we arrived. We agreed to continue on towards Cambridge to get a few extra miles under our belts. Unfortunately, while only about 45 minutes away, there was an "Emergency Scene" on I-70 and we got caught up in a 7 mile back-up of stopped dead traffic. Oh joy. So, in our effort to make extra miles, we ended up turning a 45 minute drive into an additional 3 hours of drive time. While not a big deal in and of itself, it put our arrival time at the Cambridge Wally World at 11:30 which ate into our sleep time significantly. Oh, woe is us and our first world problems. :) There was a tiny little kitten scampering about the parking lot amongst large trucks and paving equipment. He was meowing like a banshee so, being me, I had to set out some food for the poor little guy. Lane didn't put up an objections to me sharing his food...he knows better than to cop any cat attitude with Mommy...so I grabbed a generous handful of food and placed it near one of the trucks he was hiding in. I couldn't very well let the little furball go hungry so, while I couldn't do anything else for him, at least he would have a full belly for the night.
Departure is set for 6:30am tomorrow and we have nearly 700 miles to log before we reach our destination - Coralville Lake outside of Iowa City. I really hope we can sleep well tonight. It's going to be a very long day tomorrow otherwise. Though, 700 miles pulling a 31 foot camper is a long day regardless of how well you sleep the night before. But, it's the best kind of exhausting. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE THIS?!!! :)
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