There...and Back Again!

Monday, July 15, was a long day.  We awoke in Longmont, Colorado at 6:15 a.m. and our family's day truly wouldn't end until we were back in Alliance, Ohio 26 hours later (28 with the time changes along the way!)

First things first - Patti provided us with some breakfast breads to start our travels.  We bid the Lees farewell (Addison looked particularly sad about her cousins leaving!) and headed for home, departing just after 7:30 a.m.  After a couple of hours on the road, we reached Nebraska!  As I believe I mentioned before, Colorado is a big state!  And so is Nebraska!

We entered into Central Time, and stopped for lunch at North Platte at a Dairy Queen.  This was the first time any of the five of us had ever been in the state of Nebraska.  It is a long, flat state, but at least it was nice to see so much grass and green after being in the southwest desert.

We finally made it through Nebraska and entered Iowa in the late afternoon.  Because of a lack of good eating places, we made it all the way to Des Moines before stopping for supper around 7 p.m.  We had seen a sign along the highway advertising for the "Iowa Machine Shed Restaurant" and I made an executive decision that I would get to pick the place.  The Iowa Machine Shed Restaurant it was!

It is kind of like a farmer's Cracker Barrel.  They offer complimentary tractor rides around the parking lot.  There is a gift store filled with homespun merchandise.  I felt the food was a little pricey, but very good.  Everything tasted homemade, even the mashed potatoes and especially the bread.  I guess there are now several locations in Iowa, and I wouldn't mind seeing them come to Ohio.  I can think of some farmers I know that would really enjoy the place!

We had reservations at an EconoLodge in Bettendorf, Iowa.  We reached it around 11 p.m. and were faced with a decision.  Stop and stay for the night, leaving VERY early in the morning, or gut it out and press on the rest of the way home.  The final vote was 4 to 1 for pressing on (sorry Debbie!) and so, after a break of less than an hour, we went on.

The best part of our decision was going around Chicago at 2:30 a.m.  If you remember our Yellowstone report, the Chicago leg was the worst drive of the trip!  But in the middle of the night, we had the road almost to ourselves.

Contending with the dark and tiredness was the worst part.  Towards the end of the night around 4:30, my eyes were tired and I could tell I wasn't seeing as good as I should, so we pulled over at an Indiana rest stop for about a half an hour.

We made it to Ohio before sunrise.  Debbie took over the driving around Toledo, and then I drove us home from the turnpike, gassing up in Canton.  Of our entire trip to the southwest, we were the hottest and muggiest when we arrived back home at Alliance around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 16.  It felt so good to be home!