My Favorite Rest Area

We got an early start on our trip Sunday Morning. I had all the bags packed. I made breakfast burritos to heat up and eat in the car. Lah lah lah... we were doing great. On the road by 6:30 a.m.

Wait -- who has the cell phone? Not me... Not you... then who?

Oh me -- so we got a great 2nd start around 8:00. lah lah lah... we were doing great.

Mommm.... I've gotta go.

Well -- good timing -- here is a rest stop. We had made it to the other side of Iowa City -- took a look at the Iowa River... it didn't look too swollen. We didn't see much damage. Look at this rest stop -- isn't it beatiful? I think I see Quilt Squares on the buildings. How beautiful... oh wait -- I can't really see for sure... there is too much smoke.

SMOKE!!!???!!!

Yep -- smoke... rolling out from under the hood. Oh me.

Well -- take a look for yourself -- isn't this rest area beautiful?

We should know -- we stopped here for 5 hours on Sunday.



Here are our friends. Tricia -- she is such a sweetie... she was traveling with out her husband so I offered our company. She could ride along with us. "No - you all are leaving way too early." Yeah -- tell me about it.

So when she pulled in she was surprised to see US! Hey -- did you leave at 0:dark thirty?

Um yeah... we did... now it's almost lunch time -- we think we'll eat a picnic here. And you? Yeah -- sounds like a good idea. She was planning on taking it slow and relaxed.


So we had a relaxed lunch. She packed up and left and we enjoyed the beautiful rest area some more. LOL We left before her and she's going to beat us there.

Did I mention we were going on a field trip with our Home School Group? We were all planning on meeting up in Kentucky to tour the Creation Museum together. All of us were leaving at different times. That's an interesting fact. We all left at different times... just keep that in mind.

Anyway -- Dan's family is mechanically inclined. I'm so very glad. While we were waiting I got some school done with the kiddos -- I was able to totally relax and enjoy myself. Praise God for husbands.

He called his brother -- who has a trailer -- he called his Dad who has a van. Randy hauled Delano's van up to the rest area -- and we were going to borrow that van for the ride to Kentucky -- then he took our smokey van home.


Bye Ruby. :wave: It's been fun... see ya soon... maybe.

See that man in the white t-shirt? He is Dan's uncle. Uncle Dick and Aunt Jo stopped to visit us at our humble rest area. They were on their way home to Illinois -- traveling I-80. They thought maybe they would be of some help. No worries... Dan had it under control. So we chatted... when Uncle Randy arrived, Uncle Dick and Dan helped unload the loaner van, and load up the smoky van.

HEY -- look it there -- who do we see? JUST as Ruby the smoky van gets loaded here comes another family we are meeting up with in Kentucky. They waited until their church was over before leaving. Yeah -- I know... MUCH later than we left.

We decide to follow them to Kentucky.

Here we go... We stop once for gas. Get some ARBYS sandwiches... then drive until we get to the motel.

Praise God for portable DVD's, MP3 players and rechargeable batteries.

Hey -- we made it -- and who did we pull in behind??? Tricia!?!

She did take it slow and relaxed. She left the rest area 2 hours ahead of us -- but pulled into the drive 2 minutes ahead of us. Funny. We all 3 left at different times... and arrived together.

We met up with 3 others families the next morning for the museum. Then the fun began!