Road Trip 2011!

Wow!  What a whirlwind!  I got back Thursday, rented the rent house, went out to dinner with dear friends and Ken's dad because it was old man night.  Ken and I caught up, but he had to work Friday so we had to make it an early evening.  That was good because I was tired too.  Friday morning I had a list.  I had lots to accomplish.  Laundry, packing, paying bills, pedicure, lunch with my loving husband, and treatment.  I scurried around until it was treatment time.  Then I got hooked up and tried to look at a magazine, but it was no use.  I was out.  I went home and I was out some more.  Ken got home an I tried to stay awake and converse.  We ordered pizza and watched a bit of TV waiting on my sister.


Janet got in late and off to bed we went.  The plan was to get up about 5 am so Road Trip 2011 could begin!  Woo Hoo!  We got up, got ready, I finished packing, kissed my sleepy husband good-bye, and we were off.  Our ultimate goal is Duluth, MN.  Our today's goal is Quincy, IL.  Our aunt, on my father's side lives there.  We arrived around 4:45 ish.  Unpacked the car, pottied, sat some more, talked, then came the good part.  We went to Maid Rite.  Oh! How wonderful it was!  This is a eating place our folks took us to while we were growing up when we visited our grandparents.  A visit to Quincy was not complete without at least one stop to Maid Rite.



Yummy (operator issue, sorry)

Janet, Aunt Helen, and I each ordered one Maid Rite.  It was so good!  Janet and I made little piggies of ourselves and ordered another.  Aunt Helen restrained herself.  Then e went back to her house for the evening.  Aunt Helen's neighbor was out and offered a bottle of wine.  We accepted.  The man, who is two years younger than Mom said he remembered her.  Small world.  Well, we sat outside, her view off the deck over looks a golf course, drank, and talked.  Our aunt is a very interesting woman and has lots of stories to tell when she gets going.  Always enjoyable.  It got late and the bugs where getting a bit greedy, so we headed in.Talked some more and headed to bed.  I had driven the whole way because Janet's knee is not healed and she didn't need to be driving.  I was so ready to go to bed.  I couldn't go before my sister because there could still be good stories I would miss!  We were up at a fairly early time for as late as we were up.  We slept in the downstairs portion of the house, so we quietly got up, showered, dressed, packed, and carried stuff upstairs.  Aunt Helen was up already.  We ate some strawberries and talked of many more things.  Our aunt is an accomplished knitter and needlepointer.  We checked out her various works done and undone and each ended up with a lovely piece to take home.  We checked in with Maid Rite and they were open, so we went back.  This time we saved time and just ordered two from the get go!  It is always packed so we just save time and the hassle of waiting to be waited on!  Good thinking on our part!

It was time to start day 2 of Road Trip 2011!  We have a 9 and a half hour trip.  Now keep in mind we have to stop every 2 hours or so for Janet to exercise her knee (or eat, get something to drink, or to use the girl's room).  We are having a good time and Lola chimes in occaisionally with her recalculating!  Iowa is very lush and pretty and the Highway Patrol are very cute and nice.  Janet said it didn't hurt that she winked at him and I cried!  Long story short I didn't get the speeding ticket or one for no valid insurance card!  Whew!  I wasn't sure how that would go over with Ken.  I couldn't believe at my age I was going to get my first speeding ticket.  My sister didn't miss the opportunity to point out how old I am and that I had never had a speeding ticket to the good looking highway patrolman.  He was very nice and he chit chatted for a few about the barns and quilt squares we noticed.  We slowly left out resting spot and forged forward.  I have some pictures I will try to post next time.  We were not always sure which state we were in but the scenery was beautiful and I enjoyed the slow drive until it got dark.  We finally arrived about midnight!