Travel Day 5: Nebraska.

Nebraska, the "Cornhusker" state.  Named "Ni Bråske" by the Iowa tribe of Sioux Indians, this is the kind of place where you can drive all day and not see another state.  A Triply-Landlocked State, Nebraska is surrounded on all four sides by states that are also landlocked.  It makes me wonder, do Nebraskans know about the oceans?  Can they swim?

Leaving Des Moines early in the morning we were soon treated to the spectacular view of downtown Omaha.  Then Lincoln.  Then... nothing.  Just corn, soy, corn, cattle, and rolling hills, of corn.

Some say the best thing to come out of Nebraska is I-80 West.  Some say Nebraska is "boring".  I say Nebraska is the kind of place where you can drop in behind an 18-Wheeler, set your U-Haul on cruise control, and not have to move a muscle for 3 hours.  It was just what I needed.  Linda was not happy.  She needed coffee, lots of coffee.

Linda managed to find every Starbucks along the route.  This took very little time.  Between Lincoln and Grand Island there are exactly four Starbucks.  She didn't like Nebraska, and over the 10 hour drive she became more aggravated by the lack of stimuli.

While Linda and Jaik stopped repeatedly for coffee, then bathrooms, then coffee again, Laila and I talked about all of the challenges awaiting us in Utah since our travels were getting closer to completion.  This was the beginning of the end.  In a few days we'd be pulling into the apartment complex, unloading, unpacking, and settling in to a new place.

The questions started to roll.  Will it be hard to make friends?  Will the people there like me?  Will the different pollen and allergens bother my asthma?  Could I get new posters for my room?  I went on and on until Laila politely asked me to calm down.  She told me everything would work out and as long as I just kept being myself nothing much would change.  Only the scenery.  She reassured me that I'd adjust to the bigger mountains for skiing in time, and that because of the dry climate my asthma could very possibly get better.  I started to feel like everything was going to be OK.  The drive was calming.  There are no surprises here. It's a place where you know exactly what lies beyond the next gentle rolling hill on the highway. More highway.

Nebraska is an empty, wide open, blank section of canvas on the mural of America.  This is where you can reflect, think, hope, and dream at 85 miles per hour.  The Rocky Mountains are waiting for you over the horizon, a daunting maze of summits and valleys that will test your determination and endurance.  Nebraska is where you prepare.  It's also where you find Oreo Cookie Trucks.

North Platte came into view like a concrete oasis in the golden prairie. Billboards warned us of it's impending arrival.  Slowing down for the exit we coasted into the parking lot of our hotel and listened to the sound of cattle moving through their corrals across the street.  Herded together before their next journey they reminded me of the cars and traffic creeping along the crowded highways back home.  And steak.  So we got steak for dinner, and it was amazing.

The only explanation for this delicious meal that I could speculate was the IBPF, or the "immediate bovine proximity factor."   The cows were right there!  The restaurant is right here!  We even got it to go so we could eat in our hotel room and it was still the most incredible piece of red meat I've ever eaten.  Savory.

Unfortunately for Linda and Jaik, they missed the exit.  In any other state in the U.S. this would mean you'd get off the highway a mile or two later and turn around.  In Nebraska, it means you'll get off the highway an hour or two later and turn around.  This was the last straw for Linda, and for Jaik.  She was done with driving in Nebraska and he was done with driving with mom.

A delicious meal.  A good night sleep.  And a day of driving in no direction but straight for 7 hours.  It was exactly what I needed before the Colorado experience would begin.

Travel Day 4: Iowa to Nebraska

Monday night we left Chatfield, Minnesota for the quick evening drive to Des Moines, Iowa where we had a very comfortable night in a "Sleep Inn", very nice unlike our experience in Illinois.  At Gabe's recommendation we stayed right next to the "Machine Shed" restaurant just off Interstate 35.  During the short drive the kids were entertained by the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" on the iPad.  This film was shown for educational purposes as both Jaik and Laila were learning appropriate CB-Radio lingo to use on our short distance walkie-talkies.  And that's a big 10-4.

The remainder of the drive was uneventful with corn and wind turbines providing most of the scenery.  Des Moines is a quiet, well lit place.  Surrounded by darkness in all directions and beautiful starts above, we think about the good times with the Perkins and where we will see them next.  Utah?  Minnesota?  Or maybe North Dakota?

The slow driving of the U-Haul and late departure have helped us make the decision to scratch off the extended trip to see Mount Rushmore and Devil's Tower.  We can save that for 2014 or 2015.

Minnesota Visit with the Perkins Family

Sunday night dinner with the Perkins.  A walk in the park and band concert.  This day will save the entire trip.  Without a home cook meal, some family time, and a chance to rest we would have never made the trip.

Monday morning we were lucky that Gabe could take off work and spend the morning with us at "The Ninety", a 90-acre parcel of land the Perkins own just south of Chatfield.  We got to jeep around in the Xterra, let the cousins all have some time to hang out together on bikes at the local bike park, and catch up on some much needed sleep.

Unfortunately we still have a long way to go.  Late in the afternoon we say goodbye to Margaret, Gabe, Chris, Maddie and Ryan, and continue on our journey west.  Next up - Iowa and Nebraska.

Travel Day 3: Minnesota

Approximately 300 miles to get to Auntie Marg's house to see the Perkins family.  Piece of cake!

Leaving Rockford we drive straight through Wisconsin.  No stops.  None.  Well, just one but it's for gas and a new drink called "Red Bull".  I'm going to find these very important for survival in the next couple days.

We see the Wisconsin Dells signs and advertisements along the highway.  "Can we stop!?!?" asks Jaik.

"No."

Travel Day 2: Ohio to Minnesota, almost.

Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin... let's just call the whole place "Ohiowa".

Parked outside the WalMart in Elk Grove, IL.

We are behind schedule and it's only our second day of driving.  Personally I'm exhausted.  I'm not tired from the drive the night before.  I'm not tired from staying in a hotel.  I'm tired from spending the last week packing the house, and the week before that worrying about packing the house, and the week before that worrying that I might be worrying too much.  I am suffering from anxiety induced exhaustion.  This is not a good mental state to be in before driving through what may be the three most boring states in the country.

Starting out at about noon is just fine with me.  Let's find coffee.  Then let's find some more coffee.  Repeat.  Rest stops have Starbucks!  So we will stop at every single one, they're only 30-40 miles apart.

After stopping in Gary, Indiana for dinner we start driving the final stretch of the day. Until we get to the north side of Chicago I spend the whole time on the iPhone headset talking to Expedia.com.  The hotel we booked earlier is full but can put us in their "sister facility" with a double bed and pull out couch - just no dogs.  That doesn't work.  Nearly an hour later we have a solution.  By this time we are through Chicago but had to pay at about a dozen toll booths on Interstate 294.  If we are lucky we might get to Wisconsin!

We're not lucky.  We're tired.  Once we get on Interstate 39 northbound it's one lane with a concrete wall on the left and reflective orange cones along the right.  This goes on for nearly 30 miles.  Now we are in Rockford, Illinois.  Done.

Check in to a dirty "Sleep Inn", hit the sack, wake up to realize the restaurant across the street is a strip club.  Get me out of here.

Travel Day 1: Emmitsburg, MD - Newcomersville, OH

Late start, thunderstorms, and a need to get comfortable driving a fully loaded 20' U-Haul put us behind schedule before we could even start.

Instead of reaching Toledo, Ohio or Indianapolis, Indiana, we settled for a short 5 hour drive to Newcommersville, Ohio just outside the northern West Virginia panhandle.

Stopping at a truck stop, which may have been the setting for countless horror movies, we fired up the Expedia.com app on the iPad and found a pet friendly Hampton Inn 10 miles off the highway.

Exhausted from a week of packing we crashed for the night and decided to sleep in the next day so we could make it to Minnesota by Sunday instead of Saturday.  The best part of the day was learning to drive the "Big Rig", or at least I thought it was a big rig until I pulled into a truck stop and realized I was really just driving a big van.

Leaving Emmitsburg

With the U-Haul in the driveway, the house nearly emptied out, and the kids eager to hit the road, we went and spent the night at our neighbor's house!

Settlement and closing on the house went through on Friday morning, June 28th.  Our plan to leave by noon was delayed like a NASA mission as thunderstorms rolled in and a few last minute changes had to be made to our bicycle rack.

Thanks to the help of Jes at Gettysburg Bicycles, we mounted a new rail on the truck allowing all five bikes to make the journey westward.

Buttercup settled in to her spot in the back seat of the Tacoma.  Laila saddled up in the U-Haul with Dad.  And Jaik joined Linda in the pickup as we pulled out of town.  The family bet was made as to who would cry first, and Daddy lost.  While driving over Sidling Hill into the setting sun, Western Maryland said goodbye to the Hakkarinens and the Piedmont Plateau faded away in the rear view mirror.  Friends, family, the Baltimore Orioles and the Chesapeake Bay will be here when we visit, but they wouldn't be coming with us.  Laila read a letter written to her by Ms. Sarah, our neighbor, friend, and Elementary School P.E. teacher as our eyes welled up and that tell tale lump in the throat began to form.  We were leaving, and it was real.