Tomorrow after I get off work starts the holiday travel. It's going to be a long weekend full of fulfilling visits - we are looking forward to the people - but not the drive.
In case your curious - 1057 miles in 5 days.
For the really curious: 16 miles/gal - approximately $145 in gas. Times like now I wish we had an economy car (not that Brad would even think about driving it at 6'5")
Due to the high cost of gas we decided to do Christmas in one big loop. Sounds like a good idea now...I will let you know how it goes when I get back. I already have an idea of how the start of all of this will go. Grandma called today. Don't get me wrong - I love my Grandmother but if I didn't know better I would think she was Jewish.
Gram (who rarely calls): I got your Christmas card today! I see you are spending Christmas in Kentucky - how are you going to get your presents from me?
Chep: Well, I don't know (loaded questions suck) - we are going to be in NWIN on the 23rd.
Gram: So how will you be travelling? What road do you take?
Chep: Well we go through Joliet on 53 and take the back roads.
Gram: Will you be on US30 at all? (Gram lives about 10 miles south of US 30)
Chep: No - we take 53 and then some other roads I am not sure about - it's all farmland.
Gram: Well can you take I-80 to US30?
Chep: Well - we COULD but the traffic is terrible. We avoid that area as much as possible.
Gram: Oh really?
Chep: Yeah - as soon as you get to Joliet it gets bad - and when you get to the bottlenecks just south of Chicago it's TERRIBLE.
Gram: Well......what time you going to arrive - what is it like a 3.5 hour drive
Chep: More like 4pm
Gram: Well you sure you are not going to go through St. John?
Chep: No Gram - the way we take dumps us out right in Lowell.
Gram: Well I guess I could come down to your mom's and see you there (Guilt, guilt, guilt)
Chep: That would be really nice!
Gram: Well I guess I will see you tomorrow at your mom's.
Chep: Great! See you there!
I decided NOT to give into this guilt trip. I am already traveling 357 miles just to get to my mom's house - and we don't get to spend much time with her as it is - so Gram will just have to come visit mom's. **OH yeah Mom and dad live 15 minutes south of Gram***
The round trip is a new thing this year - as we are not flying to KY as we have in years past. Let's pray for good weather - last year for Thanksgiving we got stuck going to KY on I-74. It was a mess - southerners don't do snow - (or shall I say do snow well).
Have a safe and Happy Holidays - I'll be back after the road trip!
C-ya!
