First morning stop on New Year's Eve was STARBUCKS!!! You can travel a long ways from Seattle without having to give up life's necessities! With coffee in hand we hit the road toward Chicago.
Look at all that blue sky! Sunny does not mean warm.
Our plan was to drive to Oconomowoc and stay overnight with family. My husband's parents and most of his siblings all live near Oconomowoc, WI so we had thought we would like to get there early in the day and spend New Year's Eve and maybe all of New Year's day with the family. When we called them so say we were heading their way, they all sounded AWFUL! It was sad to not get to see them but we certainly did NOT want to spend the rest of our trip with chills and fever followed by that obnoxious cough that hangs on for weeks.
So in spite of traveling on I-90 near their homes, we took a special photo just for them and waved and wished them well as we kept right on moving! Bye Mom and Dad! Hope to see you soon.
But of our original plans, there was still my aunt to visit where I-94 and I-90 meet (or split, depending on which way you are traveling!), and so we still were still heading North and West. It still looked like I-90 might be our best route. Weather channel had all kinds of predictions of snow, sleet and freezing rain in Arizona and Texas and this made the southern route look less appealing!
I always love the rock formations at Camp Douglas, Wisconsin near where my aunt lives. Brings back wonderful memories of fire-fly lit evenings on Grandma's old farm where we kids would run and play for hours during summer visits.. And wouldn't you know, when I called my aunt from Madison, SHE was sick too. And as I drove by I knew I had other Vandervort relatives in the area that I would love to spend time with, gabbing family history (hello VDV gang!) -- but I would have had to track down their phone numbers. So again we took a photo of the exit we were NOT taking in honor of my aunt waved and drove on.
But the die was cast -- I-90 and pedal to the metal. Our TomTom friend informed us that a mere 1,909 miles and 28 hours were left before we left I-90 and turned north on I-5 for the last stretch home.
Now that ALL our visiting plans had all fallen through and seeing as we were looking at clear roads and skies while the high pressure was pushing all the bad weather east and south out of our way, we began making serious tracks toward home. It looked like a window of opportunity that we might not want to miss!
So on to La Crosse and across the Crossing! We discovered that the Mississippi River was already frozen for this year with lots of cold days still ahead.
Brrrr!!
If you don't keep moving quickly around here, you'll end up frozen!
Minnesota beauty!
Very windy with blowing snow. Not many people left on the road now. Likely all off for New Year's eve gatherings and with friends and family.
As the sun gets lower it's time for us to think about finding a place to spend the night. And in Albert Lea we find all the usual amenities Comfort Inn, Starbucks, and a good restaurant). We decide to stop there.
Entertaining our selves while waiting for our food!
The restaurant which was part of an elaborate truck stop with grocery, restaurant, bar, gift shop, automotive supplies and clothing.
Dinner! It was all great - vegetables were perfectly done! Hot and lightly crispy!
Both of us were happy with our meal.
Unexpectedly ran into a few of my old Norwegian ancestors there too -- what a surprise! And actually I do have distant Tangen relatives that lived in the Albert Lea area. As you can see, they really are hearty stock!
Another fun day on the road, the end of a year and the beginning of another -- which we will sleep through so we can stay awake tomorrow! Another 523 miles under our belts today!
No comments:
Post a Comment