Notice the bloody slimy bug guts covering our windshield? That was our view for most of this drive. Sorry little fellas.The last two days of our trip were a complete wind-down from this crazy, non-stop, 11-day adventure so everything that happened sort of makes a pretty boring blog. But has a boring blog stopped me yet? I don't think so. Here I go...
We left Bozeman after having a great time with a wonderful family. We drove to Spokane on Friday and arrived at Cheryle and Glenn's house at 5:30 PM. We basically crawled on our hands and knees into their house where a homemade dinner was waiting for us. Pot roast and gravy, rice and green beans, fruit salad... Mmmm. I cannot tell you how much better that was than the pepperoni and gatorade we consumed on the 6 hour drive from Montana.
By now the kids were all wanting their house and their pets and their own beds. Ashley had fallen asleep in the car (her first nap on the entire trip). And she started crying when I woke her up because she missed her house so much. So she slept in her Grandma's bed while we all ate dinner.
After dinner we did laundry and then relaxed for the rest of the night. Ashley woke up thinking it was morning time so she was rarin' to go and not sleepy at all. A thunder storm came and we counted the seconds between the lightning and its thunder, and taught Ashley how to measure how far away the storm is. At 11:00 PM everyone was asleep but Ashley, so I sat up with her and watched The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.
Saturday morning (today) we woke up and puttered around. We ate breakfast, drank coffee, read the paper and just enjoyed the morning. We finally got ready, loaded up the van and followed Glenn and Cheryle to Ionic Burrito over by Gonzaga University for lunch. It's a fun little restaurant, but had we known our burritos would weigh 2 pounds each, perhaps we would've ordered a "light weight". Oops.
After saying our goodbyes to our lovely hosts, we went to Fred Meyer and bought Paul Blart: Mall Cop and National Treasure II. Today was the day the kids could watch movies the whole way home. It was a very mellow drive.
As we approached Highway 18, we started getting really excited. There was a lot of singing, weird noises, dumb jokes and stupid sound effects. Something about knowing we were so close to home after being gone for so long made us act... well.... like we normally act.
We cannot come up with the words to tell you how happy we were to pull into our driveway. So we'll let the late, great John Denver speak for us
Hey, it's good to be back home again. Yes it is.
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend.
Yes, and hey it's good to be back home again.
Love, Peace and Chicken Grease,
The Niemeyers
Some Road trip stats that you might enjoy but probably won't:
- Total Miles Driven: 3,410
- Total Gallons of Gas Used: 139
- Average MPG: 23.53
- Total Bugs Violently Murdered by Jane Honda's Windshield: 162,538
- Total Number of Pepperoni Sticks Consumed: 20
- Total Number of Moron Drivers that Got "The Look" from Rachel: 12
- Total Number of Times Johnny Cash Songs Were Played: 40-50
- Best Public Restroom Hand Dryer: For Men - Idaho Falls Rest Stop. For Women - Teton Village Near the Tram Ticket Booth
- Total Times We Laughed Uncontrollably: Unable to Calculate
- Number of Times Chad Said "No" To My Request To Drive: 27
And now we begin to come down from this 11 day high. Wish us luck.
Glad you made it home safe. Can't wait to see you all again.
ReplyDeleteLove you
Pa
Please send us more BLOGS about the life at the Niemeyer's. It was a joy to read about your days. So glad you had fun and saw a portion of the US. Love you. Mom
ReplyDeleteRachel, write books... Write LOTS of books. It really doesn't matter about what -- as evidenced by the subject matter I've read to date -- it will be entertaining, whitty, and mildly edgy (as mildly edgy as a TV trivia junky, music loving, conservative Christian, charmingly odd, stay-at-home mom can be).
ReplyDeleteI admit that I didnt' follow the trip each day as you wrote it. In fact, I just remembered it today when you sent the snapfish, but I am sure glad I took the time to read each and every day. Sounds like you guy has a total blast.
Next time you (or any of the other 4 readers of your Blog) stop through Montana (forget the city, sorry), you MUST stop at the pitchfork fondue for dinner & a show. Wow!
Dawn & I did much of this trip you took a few years back when we drove out to North Dakota (through S.Dakota to see the badlands, black hills & Rushmore) to visit family.... Great times. Your stories make me want to go back.
We had WAY too much Beatles on that trip, and we listened to Harry Potter on tape -- the 3rd book as I recall. Mucho, Mucho fun.
Lots of love! Missed you all while you were gone!
The Fosters
You really at pepperoni sticks? Oh, man... we gotta talk.
ReplyDeleteI loved to read about your trip! Now I vote for the political commentary to begin. Or at least a somewhat regular blog. Come on, everybody's doing it.
ReplyDelete