The Long Trip Home
After spending a couple of wonderful weeks in Utah, it was time to return home. Unlike in years past, when we would drive straight through in less than two days, this time we slowed it down a bit and were able to enjoy the journey more.
We left bright and early Monday morning and spent a long day driving across Wyoming and most of Nebraska.
Have you ever had a runza? We hadn't, but they're pretty good and the next time we drive through Nebraska, we may just have another one.
Wayne thought it was odd that our hotel room had a fly swatter hanging on the wall; however, management must get lots of requests for them, because we actually used it (although only once). Hooray for the country!
Tuesday we finished driving across Nebraska, drove for a few miles in Iowa, then south through Missouri to reach Kansas. I guess most of Kansas City is actually in Missouri, but Wayne's brother lives in a suburb on the Kansas side. We had a wonderful visit with them, and even got to share our niece's pre-mission cookie-cake! (Now she's busy sharing the gospel in Brazil, but then she was in her last week of home MTC.)
Wednesday we crossed Missouri into Illinois. High on my priority list - mainly because it was a bust the last time we tried - was a visit to Highland, Illinois. This time we were prepared with the actual location of the Highland City Cemetery, where many of Wayne's ancestors are buried, and we enjoyed our time driving around the countryside.
Thursday we finished driving through Illinois, then Kentucky and Tennessee. High on Wayne's priority list was a stop at the Lodge Factory Store just outside of Chattanooga. I thought we left in plenty of time to make it before closing, but for some reason it was slow-going on the freeways. (There was a bit of construction, but the back-ups still didn't make much sense.) Fortunately, the stars aligned (and South Pittsburg is actually in the Central Time Zone), so we made it with fifteen minutes to spare. It would have been nice to spend more time browsing, but at least we got to do some shopping before checking into our hotel.
Friday was a long day, driving all the way through Georgia and Florida, but we made it home safely, filled with marvelously sweet memories of our super road trip.
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