The Great Thanksgiving Road Trip

Day 1: Idaho, Montana – We were on the road by 10am. The Suburban took some getting used to, but eventually everyone was comfortable. The dogs have an easy time getting in & out and Izzy seems more comfortable in the back seat than she was in the minivan. There are way too many buttons on this vehicle. The steering wheel is covered in them and the whole dashboard…it’s just insane. The first couple hours of the trip were spent figuring out what each one of them did. None of us could understand how there wasn’t some sort of manual. The really fun part came when not one of the three of us could figure out how to open the gas tank door. We found out later that it’s the one thing there isn’t a button for. It’s supposed to be a push open door, but the spring is broken or something so it has to be pried open.

We were aiming for Sheridan, WY but only made it to Billings, MT which was fine. We found a Hampton Inn, had dinner at Olive Garden and happily went to bed after planning the next day’s driving. Bravo growled and barked at every noise through the night.

Day 2: Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota – Woke up for the last time at 6:30am. We packed everything up, had breakfast and then we drove. And drove. And drove. Just after Mom decided to take note of how few animals we had seen there was suddenly wildlife everywhere. We saw three buck deer with huge racks. Sadly they were much too close to the highway. I really hope that they survived. We also saw a bald eagle. It was the first one I’d ever seen in real life. I completely understand why they are our national bird. Somehow just the sight of one is inspiring.

I made some great progress on the blankie. There was a Petsmart on the outskirts of Rapid City where we took a pee stop. I looked for a new bed and new kennel for B. but they were too expensive. I guess he will have to wait until we get back to Idaho. We finally made it to Sioux City, SD by 8pm just as estimated. It took a little longer than we expected to find the hotel as it wasn’t on I-90 as I had thought.

Day 3: South Dakota, Iowa – It was early afternoon when we arrived in Waterloo, IA. What a dumpy town. It seems to be the physical representation of the state of America today. It was extremely depressing. My parents decided to take me around town to show me their old haunts; the warehouse they went to college in, the crappy diner nearby where they used to go drink ice cold beer, the house Dad lived in, the donut place that brought them together. I acted like I was interested, and I kind of was at first, but eventually it was like Rome… “Oh, look, more old crap.” I can only imagine how sad it must be for them to see their home town in such a state.

Our time with my Grandpa B was better than expected. He was in a good mood. We sat and talked for a couple hours and I showed him photos from our time overseas before he chose Arby’s for dinner. Of course, we couldn’t go to the one five minutes up the street because of “The Blacks” (ROFL!) so we had to drive to Cedar Falls. I ordered some mozzarella sticks under the assumption that we would all go have a decent dinner afterward, but we didn’t and I ended up sick for the next two days because of it.

Day 4: Iowa, Nebraska – In the morning we spent some time saying goodbye to my Grandpa B. It was sad to leave him alone again. We also visited my grandma’s grave. It was strange. I’d never been to a cemetery to visit someone before. I was overcome with guilt for not writing her more often or making a point to call. She was a wonderful grandmother.

We were out of town around noon. We drove through to southern Nebraska and stayed in a crap town called Beatrice. Be sure to pronounce it right (Bee-aah-tris) or the locals will get mad at you. We ate at a Mexican restaurant recommended to us by the desk guy at the hotel. You can’t argue with 99 cent margaritas. The food was so rich though that we were all sick the next day. Really not fun when on a road trip.

Day 5: Kansas, Oklahoma – We continued on our detour from the interstate. Dad wanted to stop in Washington, Kansas to investigate fabricated truck beds. This was the most annoying part of the trip thanks to no planning what-so-ever. We drove all over Mulletsville, Kansas looking for a trailer with no luck. What a total waste of half a day. We met back up with the interstate in Manhattan, Kansas where we had lunch at Sonic. What a fiasco. The girl that took our order was horrible. When we got our food most of it was wrong. She didn’t bring us a receipt and took forever to bring us condiments. I’d asked for Fry Sauce, a staple of Sonic’s everywhere and she rudely squealed “What’s fry sauce?” I asked for ketchup instead and waited 15 minutes for it before finally going inside to ask for some and to get our receipt since she never gave us one. I spoke with the manager nicely, not placing blame or being rude, but both she and the waitress tried to put the blame back on us saying that the order was repeated back to us and we must not have been listening and that they were just bringing the condiments to us when I came inside. *Sigh* The manager eventually came out to the truck and refunded our money, explaining to my dad that it was our fault for not listening when our order was repeated, but that she wanted to keep her customers happy. Yesh. “What’s fry sauce?” became one of the many chanted motto’s along the way.

Mom drug me into a Hobby Lobby in Manhattan as well. I was dazzled at first by all the fun and crafty home décor. They were having a 50% off sale so we picked up a few things at good prices. While browsing the aisles I found many things I would love to decorate my non-existent house with, but in hindsight most the décor there was very cheap looking.

We pushed on to Oklahoma City and I almost wet myself while we all tried to talk like pirates.

Day 6: Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona – Good Lord, the driving. We decided to tough it out and drive straight to Grandpa L’s house. I experienced three new states in just a few hours. Matt made me swear to have no fun in Texas so I attempted to sleep from border to border of the panhandle. I woke just outside Amarillo when my mom screamed “KELSEY LOOK AT THE GIANT CROSS!!!!” To our left was a huge white cross, several stories tall. I could do not do more than roll my eyes and try to go back to sleep, but moments later Dad says. “Hey, there’s how cotton grows.” On either side of us there were fields of brown and white. I was awake. My desire to touch things almost overcame me as I really wanted to get out and pluck a tuft of cotton from its bush, but we all had to chant “No Fun Texas” and continued on only to pass a slaughter farm. Cows corralled into small spaces and the murder factory pumping smoke from its tall stacks. The three of us wanted to be vegetarians for the rest of the trip thanks to that lovely sight. From my little taste of Texas I have to admit I’m not looking forward to a full blown tour. We passed through much of New Mexico in the dark, which was fine because apparently there was not much to see.

It was around 10pm when we arrived at Grandpa L’s house. He welcomed us warmly and showed us to our rooms. I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep, but was met with the hardest, shortest bed on the planet. Even Bravo couldn’t get comfortable and the two of us tossed and turned through the night.

Day 7: Arizona – Grandpa L made his famous biscuits and gravy. The meal I’d compared all others to since I was 11, but it wasn’t what I remembered. Not to sound conceited, but mine is much better.

Mom and I decided to drive to Tucson to get our nails done and do a bit of shopping. I directed her across town to the place I used to go when Matt and I lived there. I was surprised that I still new the way and that three years later they were still open. Mom had her nails filled and I decided to go all out with their Thanksgiving mani-pedi special. I was rubbed within an inch of my life. Just when I thought it was over she would bring out another wonderful smelling lotion or salt and massage it into my hands or feet. During the pedicure my feet were wrapped in plastic and covered with piping hot towels not once, but twice. I was in heaven for an hour and a half. I just don’t understand why all nail salons don’t offer such wonderful services. Mom was extremely impressed with how thorough they were on her fill job.

We decided to go to the base for a couple things. I thought that it would be a good idea to pick up some ingredients for our Thanksgiving meal, but I hadn’t thought that the commissary would be ridiculously packed the day before the holiday. We did grab a few things at the BX and I was talked into a $70 kennel for Bravo. I should have just bought the one at Petsmart. I liked it better and it was about the same price. You snooze, you lose.

I had to go to Safeway for an internet connection. Matt’s e-mails communicated his worry having not heard from me for three days in a row. I let him know we had arrived safely and that I may be out of contact until after the holiday. I shared the good news about our loan approval with him as well. (Woot! Approval!) His time there is getting closer to the end, but the holidays are making it more difficult to be without him. When I returned I worked on my signature brandied cranberry sauce and got it in the fridge just in time for bed.

Day 8: Thanksgiving in Arizona – It was hard to talk Grandpa L out of making a full fledged breakfast for the three of us. It’s our tradition to starve ourselves before a holiday dinner. Dad wondered if his brother’s family ate my grandfather out of house and home on their visits because of his desire for keeping us fed. Mom and I went with Grandpa to pick up our precooked Thanksgiving meal, giving Mom an excuse to get coffees and Dad a chance to feel better; he had woken with vertigo and cold sweats. Not good. On our way back Grandpa drove his new Lexus 5 miles an hour while telling uninteresting stories. The whole visit was Story Time with Grandpa. We were all lucky to get a word in edgewise. He actually ran a solid red at snail speed while talking up a storm. Mom and I exchanged terrified looks, but said nothing.

Once back at the house I distracted Grandpa with Europe pictures, giving the parentals time to relax outside. Dad was feeling better after sleeping a bit more and getting some fresh air with the dogs. We were all sweating through the visit because he kept his heat on all day. Any excuse to escape into the cool outdoors was a welcome one. Around noon mom and I locked ourselves in the kitchen with the dogs, opened the sliding door and started cooking dinner. I whipped up green bean casserole and was put in charge of reheating the precooked dishes. Mom made some sweet potato pie and supervised the reheating. We were quite a team.

Dinner was ready around three. No one but Grandpa spoke. We were only allowed to nod. Of course, we said everything was delicious when in fact all the precooked food was horrible. The parentals and I referred to the turkey as “greasy pig buzzard” among us thereafter. The mashed potatoes were runny and the cornbread stuffing had absolutely no flavor. I covered my turkey in cranberry sauce and gravy so I didn’t notice the flavor much. My favorite dish by far was the green bean casserole and I was ready to eat the crap out of it for days.

Mom and I took a long walk around the golf course with the dogs after cleaning up dinner and doing the dishes. Bravo had a nice pee on the green. I’m so proud of him for lifting his leg like a big boy. It’s getting more and more common for him now. When we got back to the house Mom escaped to the bedroom with the dogs giving the excuse of the L-tryptophan hitting her. I sat in the living room flipping through a Kitchen & Bath magazine while Dad “listened” to Grandpa’s repeated stories eventually escaping on my own when it was an excusable hour for bed.

Day 9: Black Friday in Arizona – After flipping through the ads in the morning paper the parentals and I decided to go up to Tucson for the Black Friday sales. I directed them to the Park Place Mall where Dad got some great deals on tools at Sears while Mom and I tried to shoe shop at Dillard’s and spent $200 at Abercrombie. Dad was intent on finding a Lowes for more amazingly low priced tools, but by the time we got to the south Tucson location we all realized we were hungry, but didn’t want to drive back toward the mall for food. We headed home anticipating some quickly reheated leftovers only to discover that Grandpa had frozen everything. It took over an hour to thaw and reheat the leftovers. We were all so disappointed. Dad joked about murdering Grandpa’s freezer. None of us could figure out why he had frozen all the food after we had told him several times that we would eat the leftovers. This became yet another joke between the three of us. “Would you like me to freeze that for you?”

Even worse was that after our early afternoon snack Grandpa decided to throw my cranberry sauce, the sweet potato pie, and the green bean casserole down the disposal. The rest was put in the freezer again. So when we were all hungry again at dinner time there was no food left and we were all forced to eat dinner rolls and what was left of the pie. What a meal! I spent a couple of hours packing the Suburban, organizing things so we could simply slide in our bags in the morning. Mom and I took it to the carwash, vacuumed it out, and wiped the dog nose prints off the windows before stopping at Safeway to map out the next day’s drive to Denver online and to write Matt a quick e-mail.

Day 10: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado – In the morning we had a fast breakfast and I quickly loaded the rest of our things in the truck. We were all surprised to have said our goodbyes and gotten on the road by 8am. It was another long day of driving as we backtracked through New Mexico and made our way up to Colorado where we stopped in Castle Rock for the night. It was 10pm when we had finally unloaded our things and the dogs and went searching for food. There was a fun looking restaurant and brewery a block away, but by the time we arrived it had closed. Oddly of the 10 restaurants within 5 blocks of our hotel all but 2 closed at 10pm. We settled on Chili’s. I should have known better. I should have listened to Mom and gone to IHOP, but we weren’t in the mood for breakfast for dinner.

Day 11: Denver, Co & Ft. Collins, Co – The breakfast buffet had been thoroughly picked clean. There was Tang instead of real OJ, the milk wasn’t labeled. Ugh. Listen to all my complaints. Anyway, after breakfast we headed into Denver. This trip down memory lane was much more enjoyable than Waterloo. The parentals took by their three shops and reminisced about the hay day of my dad’s four wheel drive shop. It is sad to see history repeating itself today. Because of the first Bush’s reign and Desert Storm my parents’ business went from making $75,000 a month to practically nothing. They had to close their business and move us to Idaho. I really admire them for how far they’ve come after losing so much. I couldn’t imagine going through something like that.

My strongest flashback was when we went through our old neighborhood. When I saw the playground of my first elementary school a flood of memories came. The playground hasn’t changed since I was there in the first grade. It’s been faded by the sun now, but I could still see Sara Neuenschwander and I swinging and singing together. I could see myself watching the boys play basketball on the tiny court and I could even remember which door I walked through to go back to class.

For lunch we made a special trip to Casa Bonita. I was expecting something much different. I remembered the pink castle façade from my childhood, but I had conveniently forgotten about the cheap, pathetic looking strip mall it was located in. Inside, I recalled everything. I remembered the booth we had been seated in with my grandparents following an interview my dad had. I remembered the cliff divers and the sopapias. It was obvious that it was one of those things that is so much more fun through a child’s eyes, but we all made it fun. We even decided to have a caricature drawn. We gave the artist a photo of Matt so we could joke with him about having him along on our trip, but once the sketch was finished the three of us were confused who was who. Had it not been for the labels beneath each of the identical heads I don’t think anyone would know that they were intended to be us. We found it particularly amusing that Matt and Dad both had girly eyes and that Matt had such a cute cherub nose when his actual nose is so manly and defined. Oh well, it was supposed to be about the experience.

After lunch we said goodbye to the city and drove north to Fort Collins. We stopped in the suburb of Loveland to get Mom a Starbucks. I immediately fell in love with the area; beautiful homes and buildings, nice people. I think I may have found our retirement spot. Of course, it will be nothing like it is now in thirty years. The reason for our jaunt to Ft. Collins was the Budweiser Brewery. This was the only fun of the entire trip, but it made it all worth it. It pained me to not be doing it with Matt as he is the beer drinker. The tour was interesting. We got to see the Clydesdales and learn about their tack gear. I had no idea that each team had a Dalmatian on the coach to protect the beer. What a good dog. The best part of the tour was walking into the cooling room. It smelled like the freshest, most crisp, wonderful beer you’ve ever had in your life. I wanted to break the seals and fill the room with it so I could swim in it. When we were done in the brewery we were led to the visitor’s center where we were given several free samples of beer. We really liked their winter ale. I had to drink a Bud Light in honor of Matt and I was shocked to discover that it tasted exactly like the cooling room. We did some heavy shopping in the gift shop and decided to stay the night in town as the interstate was closed north of Cheyenne due to a storm. When we got back in the Suburban I discovered that Bravo had gotten into Mom’s mostly full Venti Caramel Macchiato. There was very little spillage and we had one hyper little dog on our hands for the rest of the night. I did my best to wear him out with the laser pointer once we were in the hotel room.

Day 12: Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho – The final day of the trip was the hardest. Everyone was cranky and we had 16 hours of driving to do. There were no stops except to pee. I continued reading Twilight, which I am fully fascinated with now. I suppose you’re tired of reading my account of our trip by now so I will spare you the details of my swooning until another post. I was impressed that we pulled in my parents’ driveway just before 8pm. I helped them unload as quickly as possible, and then took my things downstairs and unpacked a bit. The two of them drove to Spokane to return the rental while I stayed home. I was able to chat with Matt for a bit. I welcome pleasure after a week and a half of little to no contact. I had to say goodbye after I noticed my eyes drooping between messages. I miss him so much.