Home sweet home (and a snowstorm)

Me and my sister

   We are home safe and sound after a 111-day winter adventure. The house was in good order and we enjoyed sleeping in our own bed.

    But back to the final couple days of our trip.

    We left Eau Claire, Wisconsin Sunday morning but not before we went to breakfast at our hotel (actually the hotel next door but they are both owned by the Hilton company) where we were surprised that our waiter in the morning was the same waiter we had the night before at the Texas Roadhouse.

   Will was a very nice and obviously hard-working young man who wants to put himself through college.

   Our drive to Illinois was uneventful until we hit Illinois and then all heck broke loose. We entered Illinois as Joan was talking to her sister Diane in Maryland and then the snow started to fall.

   And it kept falling until we were driving in deep slush all the way to my sister’s house. Turns out, according to the news that this was the biggest snowfall in the Chicago area since 1961 and it tied with that year for the largest snowfall after April 13 in all the years records have been kept. For the record the area received 5.4 inches of snow.

    It did make me wish I was still in Tucson, but the snow stopped and melted pretty quickly.

   Sunday night we were invited to Mary’s house for her excellent meatballs. We’ve eaten there before and have always enjoyed Mary’s cooking and company.

     Monday we went shopping with my sister and then chilled out in their beautiful North Aurora, Illinois home. My sister, an excellent cook, prepared a wonderful pork tenderloin dinner and then went to a neighbor’s house for “Movie Night” in their basement.

    Ron and Jan were great hosts and Ron built a custom theater in his basement complete with leather reclining chairs with cup holders and a very large screen and a massive choice of movies.

   We watched “Rich, crazy Asians” and had a good laugh. Real popcorn too!

    Up early on Tuesday, we had a quick breakfast and then headed out for home. On Monday I purchased a new transponder to help us get through the toll plazas more quickly so we were up and running for that as well.

    The trip home was unremarkable, except as always we knew exactly when we entered Michigan because the roads turn to crap. Michigan undoubtedly has the worst roads in the country.

    The unpacking went well and we are settled back into our routines with me already having attended a Legion meeting Tuesday night and then Bingo on Wednesday. Joan has resumed her aquacise class at the rec center and we will be attending our regular Bible study Thursday night.

   Thanks to all of you for joining with us on our annual winter trek and we’ll see you when we leave for our next adventure (probably my Navy reunion in June).

Mileage out in Eau Claire: 11838

Mileage in at North Aurora: 12135

Time out at Eau Claire: 8:30 a.m.

Time in at North Aurora: 1:45 p.m. (snowstorm)

Mileage out at North Aurora Tuesday: 12147

Time out at North Aurora: 8:24 a.m. (CDT)

Mileage in at home: 12442  (When we left in December the Tahoe had 1949 miles on it)

Time in at home: 2:30 p.m. (EDT)