On The Road Again…

I’m going to get caught up here and now, and hopefully post “in real time”,  or at least, “in real time + a day or two” from now on.  To that end,  here is a quick summary of the last week.

We left Chicago and headed back west to Minnesota-  we had wisely left our trailer there,  and because of the blizzard, we had missed visiting with a lot of Kate’s family.  Since the whole purpose of this road trip is visiting family,  we had to go back.

Here’s a list of the family we got to visit:  You’ve already met Ma (Phyllis) Wodash;  then there’s Jane and Lon, Lisa, Trent, Maddie, Jackson, and new baby Lincoln;  John; Tom, Deb, and Olivia;  Chrissy, Dean, Amanda, Abby and Kenny;     <pause for breath>       Maggie and Andrew;  Steve and Jill…  ok, that takes care of Kate’s siblings, their spouses,  and most of their spawn.  There are a few missing spouses, nieces and nephews from that core group- we missed Sylvia, Jonica, Savannah and Mikayla;  LeighAnne, Arturo, and Emilia;  Laura and her fiance Justin;  Aaron, Stephanie, Landon, twins Daveny and Dominic and their new sister Nora.  That takes care of the nuclear family.   

And there are all the related nieces and nephews-  Todd and Christina and baby Bjorn,  Brad and Niki and Zack, Leo, and Hudson,  Alex and Zack and Eloise… probably more, but my memory is shot at this point.  Folks,  I am not making this up.  I told you Kate had a big clan.

We had a great time-  I feel very lucky to be an addition to this bunch.

But I have to say,  the highlight of the return to Minnesota was helping Dean unload and install his chickens.

I don’t know what he would have done without me.  If this boat thing doesn’t work out,  I might move back to Minnesota and become a chicken farmer.  With a mentor like Dean,  what could go wrong?

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So with Minnesota in the rear view mirror,  we have spent a couple of days crossing the plains to Asheville NC.  We didn’t make it there tonight as planned- we are crashing in Knoxville TN,  crossing the Smoky Mountains tomorrow in daylight- I don’t want to miss that.  My cousin Lacey has a weekend  camping trip planned for…somewhere in the Smoky Mtns.  Look for a photo heavy post later next week.

Cheers!