2,000+ miles Thanksgiving Roadtrip

We are home safe and sound after a very nice vacation in South Dakota with Anne's family for Thanksgiving. It's about 1,000 miles between Ohio and SD, and we gave ourselves two days to travel each way not knowing how Ivan would do. Well, he did GREAT. That doesn't mean we didn't have a little adventure during our travels.

We left for SD on Friday, 11/15/07. When we reached the middle of nowhere Illinois (somewhere West of Peoria) the right tire on the trailer we were pulling back to SD for Anne's brother, Jordan, decided to go flat . . . right AFTER we left a rest stop to switch drivers. You'd think that it would have been kinder to us at 2am and went flat IN the rest stop, but no!

After calling AAA and finding out they don't cover trailers in the membership "policy", Anne got the "helpful?" lady from AAA to look up on the Internet the closest WalMart that was open 24 hours. A very good man by the name of Kurt from the automotive department at WalMart in Galesburg, IL, came to our rescue instead. (I think he took pity on us with our screaming one month old baby in the background who no longer thought his parents or the car were entertaining.) He brought us the tool we thought we would need to switch out the flat with the spare tire that was conveniently stored in the trailer. Well . . . the tool worked, the spare did not! It was not the right size of rim. OOPS!!

So, we dropped the trailer there on the shoulder of I-74 and followed Kurt back to Galesburg. He showed us where the hotels were and WalMart. At 4:30am we checked into Comfort Inn to sleep and wait for WalMart's tire department to open at 7am. Ivan definitely appreciated the change in environment! When it was all said and done, we were on the road again by 9am on Saturday.

Here is Ivan sleeping in the crib at the hotel.

Fortunately, the rest of the drive was uneventful until we reached South Dakota. We gladly welcomed the change in plans in SD though! We joined Anne's parents and grandparents for dinner in Brandon, SD. Anne's dad was in Brandon (1 hour south of her parent's house) for a Chiropractic class, and we wouldn't have been able to see him until Sunday if we had not stopped. This was also the first time Anne's grandparents got to meet Ivan. We all enjoyed the dinner and being together.

The rest of the week was full of hunting, lots of resting for the new parents, eating wonderful meals and overall great fellowship with family and friends. Anne's mom and childhood friend, Kim, hosted a party for Ivan at her dad's office. It was so wonderful to get together with everyone, but our guest of honor decided to sleep through almost his entire party! So, we let him sleep on the coffee table in the middle of everyone to be admired. It almost looked like Ivan was on display at a museum. "And here we have a very rare find . . . a sleeping baby. Shh . . . and please do not touch or feed the artifact."

Thanksgiving dinner was at Anne's parent's house. The traditional fixings were served with one addition, a deer roast. Everyone brought together such a fine meal, and again all of the good food is one our favorite parts of going back to visit. Anne's Grandma makes the best pie crust! Anne's mom really knows how to prepare a tasty meal ~ over and over and over again. (Thanks mom!)

The drive back to Ohio went perfectly. Ivan woke up only 3 times to eat and one extra time to have his diaper changed. Once we got home, he decided to make up for the missed feedings, but I think we are about evened out again. We started unpacking, with Ivan's help of course, but now we realize that he has the right idea. Yeah, he fell asleep on the kitchen floor amongst all of it!