Day 77: Wednesday, August 18th – Jamestown, North Dakota to Home

  • Aug 18, 2010
post-thumb

I woke up shortly before seven Central time to what I thought were a lot of planes flying over.  After I thought about the multitude of planes in my semi-conscious state I realized that there must  be something else making noise since towns in the middle of nowhere don’t usually have a plane rumbling through every minute or so.

Last night was the first night of this entire trip that we left the fly off (Scott likes to say “we went topless”).  It was peaceful falling asleep staring at the stars.  The fly helps keep in some of our hot air though and when the wind started whipping in at about midnight the kids and I started to get chilled.  I was tempted to put the fly on then, but I didn’t really want to get up, so I just piled more layers on everyone.

Back to this morning.  I finally realized that the roar of planes was really the rumbling of a summer storm. I woke Scott up.  Since we just lost a time zone yesterday it was like waking up at six am. Which wasn’t early before this trip, but as we started to stay up later with the midnight sun we also started sleeping in until 9.  We have been slowly getting back on schedule as we lose sunlight and time zones.

Cody popped up with no problem while Scott and I busily packed up to try to beat the storm that was coming across the lake.  I never tire of watching the rain come down on water.  Especially when I can watch while staying dry.  Thankfully Brooke woke up without too much distress and was even very helpful getting everything into the van. We couldn’t have done it without her help.  We were very close on time.

We drove down the campground road to a pavilion to eat our no frills breakfast of cereal.  Once everyone was settled into the pavilion, I ran to the van to get the last of the cereals.  The rain was literally on my heels.  Just as we took our first bites the thunder and lightning really started to put on a show.  We even had little hail balls come and greet us as the rain decided to blow in sideways.  It was quite a storm, but we were able to keep our tent and belongings dry.

The motivation to avoid the storm had us on the road by 8 am.

Minnesota by 10 am! Wisconsin by 1:30 pm! Home by 10:45 pm!

Final mileage: 129,521

It is exciting to see the familiar sites of home, but it also makes me miss the peacefulness of the middle of nowhere (in bear-free campsites of course :- )

We did not intend to go all the way home when we woke up this morning.  We actually stopped at the Black River State Forest in Wisconsin to camp, but the mosquitoes were pretty bad and Scott was not looking forward to camping in the heat.  So, we hopped back in the car and went in search of a McDonald’s play land and a not-so-healthy last trip meal.

I am excited to go home, but I know I will miss the family together time.  It is difficult for Scott to schedule in family time when we are home.  I will also miss Scott making dinner and cleaning the dishes every night.  I think that will need to get implemented into our home routine at least on the nights I have class this fall.

We have a few more posts that will go up with odds and ends, but we will update this site every now and then with family adventures.  The next  scheduled out of state trip will be to Wisconsin to camp and scuba dive.  This time we will get to be with extended family as well.

Thanks for following us on our journey.  We would love to hear your comments, family adventures, or suggestions for future family adventures.  We have tossed around the idea of New Zealand and Australia, but this planning momma is a  little concerned about finances, so who knows how long it will be until we put our traveling shoes back on.

<< Prev Next >>
comments powered by Disqus
LATEST POST
  • Post By April and Scott
  • Jan 29, 2022
Kubota SVL-90 Track Replacement
  • Post By April and Scott
  • Jul 17, 2021
Oak Alley Plantation
  • Post By April and Scott
  • Jul 17, 2021
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
TAG