The "Easy" Day (AKA Nevada, IA at last!)

The drive from STL to Nevada was supposed to be easy. 5 hours or so, no big deal. Pssssh. That was wrong!

We woke up this morning and Linda made pancakes, which totally hit the spot. Summit and Caper contemplated very briefly making a truce. It didn’t last long, but at least they considered it. Caper is an excellent hostess. Hopefully Summit will pick up on her behavior by the time we decide to get a dog and become an excellent hostess herself.

We also had a brief time of panic when we thought we had lost Mitzie. We forgot to shut her into the bedroom. When I realized the door was open and that she wasn’t under the bed, under the covers, under the dresser, in the carriers or in the closet I called in reinforcements. Jeff eventually found her burrowed underneath the pillows. This is why we don’t let her out in strange places – if we do, we’d never see her again!

On the upside, we played Catch Phrase. Jeff and I enjoy electronic Catch Phrase because it’s an entertaining way to pass the time. We did have an incident where the batteries died, but that was quickly resolved. One of my first words was awesome – it was Q-Bert, which happens to be Q's (the baby we met yesterday, remember? :)) nickname.

Also, we found the Jack Link’s KC Masterpiece beef jerky today, which was interesting. I also got some string cheese. As we were driving, Jeff’s brother Dan was also driving home to Indiana (he came to STL for a quick visit so we could see each other – thanks Dan, it was good to see you!) so Jeff called him and chatted a bit. It seems that it is in appropriate for me to eat string cheese, but it’s acceptable for Dan to eat Moon Pies. I can’t figure out that logic yet.

The last downside of today is that we’re back in the Midwest where there’s corn. You’d think I’d be used to corn and beans by now, being an Iowa girl most of my life. But apparently when you don’t drive for more than 15 minutes at a time for like 3 years, you can’t watch the little rows of corn and beans fly by anymore without getting car sick which is one of my most favorite things about seeing corn. You’d also think I’d have learned my lesson yesterday as we were leaving Ohio. But I didn’t.

Anyway, now that I've fully recovered with the help of an awesome meal of steak, potatoes, roasted green beans and fruit salad and we've programmed the Garmin for the rest of the trip (thanks for letting us steal it Dad!) Jeff, Mitch & I are going to play Mystery at the Abbey.