Minnesota Vacation - Day 2

Saturday, June 6th

All three of us had a restful night and like yesterday, had an earlier than expected departure. This time at 9:45am. Next to the hotel was a gas station so I decided to fill up. The problem was the pumps were running extremely slow, so after a few agonizing gallons, half a tank, and frustration, we hit I-35 and headed north again. Yesterday we drove a total of 345 miles. Today we travel from the Texas/Oklahoma border to almost Des Moines, Iowa. It will be a lot more than 345 miles.

We didn't go far until we stopped in Ardmore, OK and the Denny's for breakfast. I saw another customer use her AARP card for a discount, so I did too! Saved a little over $3. I handed the cashier a $50 bill for my check totaling $19.90, and she promptly gave me 10 cents change. Um, that was a fifty my dear, so she quickly opened the drawer and gave me an additional $30. She said it was her first day. Uh-huh.

Somewhere well on the other side of Oklahoma City we pulled off for potty breaks and goodies. Is was at this point I finally figured out why the dog loves to travel in the car with us. I thought it was because she was with her daddy and Uncle Bill. But no, I was wrong. I can sum up her joy of traveling in one word: Snacks. At home, she eats dog food and the occasional scrap from dinner. On the road, and so far today, she's had a ham and cheese omelette, DQ soft-serve ice cream with whipped cream, Chex mix, and a Hardee's cheeseburger. We're only halfway through our day and she's eating like royalty. They're very small portions, of course, but to her, it's heaven.

If you've never driven through Oklahoma and Kansas, I can tell you it's always windy. It's mostly open plains and of the few trees along this freeway, you can see that they all grow a little askew and lean north because of the constant wind hitting them. Pretty interesting.

We made another stop at a large "convenience area" along the Kansas Turnpike. It has a Hardee's burger place, gas station, convenience store and large restrooms. It's no Buc-ee's, but it'll suffice. I was surprised when Lawrence said he wanted to drive! He NEVER drives! It's open turnpike and not much traffic, so why not. I'm sitting in the backseat with the dog and feel like a nervous parent riding with a teenager beginning to drive. I won't nap, I assure you.

I wanted to make note that we haven't seen one highway patrol officer yet. That was until Lawrence started driving and within 5 minutes a Kansas State Trooper passed us. The key phrase here is "passed us", not followed us. The nervous parent came out again.

(Later that same day.....)

I took back over the controls before we got into Kansas City and stayed with it until we arrived in Osceola, Iowa, our overnight destination. This small town is south of, and is also the Amtrak stop for, Des Moines. We arrived at 8:15pm, which means we drove for 10 1/2 hours and 625 miles. We checked into the Days Inn, and after unloading the car of valuables, we weren't really feeling too tired, so we loaded up the car with us and the dog and headed one exit north on the freeway to what used to be called Terrible's Casino. I guess they finally figured out that it was not an appealing name and changed it to the Lakeside Hotel and Casino. We played slots and maintained for a while. Lawrence about broke even and I was down a little, much like last night at Winstar. Not too bad.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Subway for a sandwich. It's the first Subway I've ever seen that is 24 hours. I guess being next to a casino you have to. We ate back at the hotel and got ready for bed. Yes, the dog ate Subway with us. She hasn't eaten any of her dry food for two days now. I'm beginning to think she might be a little spoiled.

Tomorrow we reach our destination of New Ulm, Minnesota. According to Google Maps it's 4 1/2 hours and 300 miles. Easy, compared to today. It will be good to finally arrive as we haven't been back there for four years. We usually go every year, but a few things kept us in Houston. We bought and remodeled a new house, which took a year and a half to complete. We also moved, I was promoted at work, we lost our baby boy Rusty and got our new baby girl Desiree 6 days later, I started driving for Uber, and we bought a new car, which is the one we are driving to Minnesota in. The time finally came to slow down and take time from all our jobs, drive for two and a half days on a very familiar route, and finally get to visit family we have missed for years.