On The Road

This year's Annual Convention was a BIG one for the CLB! Chris and I drove with Walt and Dena the over 1500 miles to Fergus Falls to attend. As usual it was so great to see all our friends and be a part of what God is doing.

Driving, or should I say riding, from Washington to Minnesota in the backseat of a pickup pulling a fifth-wheel is an experience. Thankfully it was a little smoother than last year but not smooth enough for my carsick stomach. Before the past couple of weeks I always laughed at people who could no longer eat certain foods that had at one time made them sick or preceded a case of the stomach flu. It's not really funny anymore. Just looking at the truck and fifth-wheel made my feel carsick. The sandwiches that we ate on our infamous crabbing trip where I heaved overboard into the Columbia Bar made my stomach wretch every time we stopped for lunch. Needless to say it was not the most pleasant trip in the car. But I found that sleeping not only makes you forget how crappy you feel, it also makes the days go much faster!

my first and only really good day on the road

But on the bright side the company was nice, we listened to some good books on cd, and stopped at some of our favorite places to eat! My favorite book we listened to was "Three Weeks With My Brother" by Nicholas Sparks. It was quite a tear-jerker but was a heart-warming story of his life and a three-week trip around the world he made with his older brother. I smiled to myself as we heard about spectacular exotic locations around the world while driving through the somewhat monotonous states of eastern Montana and North Dakota. On the other hand, "O Pioneers" seemed much more appropriate to the terrain. This was also a rather tragic story of a pioneer family trying to farm the harsh plains of Nebraska.

Not all dinner stops were able to correspond with a location that afforded much in the way of choices. We did enjoy eating at some of our favorites on this trip such as Space Aliens (we ate there both ways), Hunan Springs in their new location, Dairyland (a long walk from Hillcrest but totally worth it!), and Cracker Barrel.

We also got to try some new places. Jake's, somewhere on I-90 was more of a one-time-only stop. I would fondly refer to Jake's, the first place we stopped to eat, as a "dive". Anywhere that has a vending machine in the bathroom where you can spray your wrists with a "Obsession-like" cologne for 25 cents, gravy on nearly every item on the menu, a middle-aged waitress that refers to all her customers as "honey", and where every piece of artwork on the wall are available for you to purchase is in my mind a dive. But that is what makes driving for 28 hours interesting.

Rest stops along the way also vary greatly depending on your locale. Most are your pretty run of the mill rest stop: bathrooms, vending machines, drinking fountains, a pet area, and no overnight camping. But when you get to North Dakota all that changes. Rest stops in North Dakota aren't just a place to stop to use the bathroom or sleep for a maximum of 8 hours, they are a destination! The rest stops in North Dakota scream, "PLEASE STOP! We really do have things to do here!" The buildings look as if they were actually designed by someone not just thrown together with some concrete bricks. They have travel information, movies about local indian tribes, scenic viewpoints (yes, there are some), super hand-dryers, automatic sinks with hot water and soap, baby changing tables, and little seats in which to buckle in antsy toddlers. They are truly the Marriott of roadside rests! Just watch out for bison in the parking lot and don't try to get a souvenir picture with one! (Yes, we saw some but didn't get any pictures, it was too dark :o( Bummer!)

Chris and I at the Painted Canyon rest stop in North Dakota

We also learned that you can't always depend on your GPS. Don't put too much trust in a computer! More than once "Jill", what Walt and Dena affectionately call their GPS, tried to lead us astray. This just proves my point that robots really are trying to take over the world! I've seen enough movies to know it's true... :o)

All in all it was a pretty uneventful trip. The weather was perfect on the way out and only rained off and on on the return trip home. We slept pretty good thanks to our earplugs and we only had one flat tire on the trailer!