Holiday Road

 Hi everyone! I know it has been a while. At the end of July, we embarked on an epic road trip.....

Mostly accurate Route. OK, so the jaunt into Kansas wasn't that extreme, but the detour to cross I-29 into Missouri took much much longer than anticipated. There are entire stretches of interstate that are completely under water-and our family truckster is not a Duck.

We didn't get back until the second week of August. It was a great time, and a success-despite the massive detours caused by the closure of parts of I-29 due to Missouri River flooding. I mean, whenever you spend 2.5 wks on the road and you don't have to tie a dead relative to the roof of a car-that's success, people (see National Lampoon's Family Vacation). Over the next 9 blog posts**, we will recount our journey. To put it all in perspective, we were happy to be leaving Vermillion for a bit. We had been in a serious funk since the 4th of July-the heat, humidity and heat-seeking bugs were just bumming us out. We needed a break. 

Going through my pictures, I realized that I didn't take nearly enough of Westin with family--which was the point of the trip!! West is an amazing traveler, granted we Dalen did download some Curious George and Seasame Street to the ole iPad-very helpful, although Dalen kinda wished that we didn't use it. I am thankful for the advances in modern technology. Dalen drove most of the trip, because I am no longer used to driving and kind of totally freak out when I drive next to giant trucks! Not helpful.

To get ready for the trip, Westin got a haircut...by a professional this time..

Before...

Stylin'!! Ginny is great and is so good with Westin!

First stop: Springfield, MO en route to Noni's house in Birmingham, AL.

Despite 2 extra hours to get across the Missouri River, Dalen is still all smiles. Afterall, we are on VACATION!! :)

**For those of you wondering where these 9 blog posts are--I'm writing them right now and they will be published bit by bit over the next couple of days. Seriously, I'm not leaving my computer until they are done. Promise! Also, to help y'all keep track of where we are, I added the location feature, so you can find us on the map! :)