The Road Trip - Day 1

There is no way I can put into words how difficult it was to drive from Utah to Indiana.  We left at 4:00 pm Saturday with the great idea to travel through Wyoming and Nebraska at night.
It was still daylight enough for Kenny to see this sign and others like it.  He repeatedly asked to buy fireworks and was even more surprised to discover Evanston was so close to home.  Information that Molli didn't want him to have.

Sunrise in Nebraska through a very dirty windshield.

It was a great idea, we made fabulous time, even with the millions of construction cones glaring in my eyes all night long.  We reached Omaha, NE around 6:30 am (their time) and had a sit down breakfast.  We took a much needed visit/rest at Anne-Marie's near Des Moines around 9:30 am or so.  She made chocolate chip cookies that were to die for and Molli's family had a great visit.  Laura and I crashed in her backyard since neither of us had slept since Friday night.
     And now, for a special cameo appearance by Anne-Marie's family.  If the cookie recipe isn't top secret, could you post it on your blog?  Seriously delicious!!!!!

 Thanks again Hibshmans!
  Somehow Molli's family has the ability to sleep in the car, EASILY!   I soon became very jealous of their talent. 

After Anne-Marie's, it was time to hit the road again.  Lots of green country and a few windmills, which I found fascinating.

One of the too many rest stops.

When we hit the state line in Iowa, it was as if all speed was lost.  It took FOREVER to cross Iowa, Illinois and Indiana!!!!!!!!!!

Our original plan was to stay somewhere a few hours outside of Fort Wayne and drive in the next morning and surprise mom at her library.  Laura started feeling bad about all the lies we had to tell mom and the fact that mom had to have her furniture picked up on Saturday and they had been sleeping on the floor.  We also didn't call her even when she thought we would be on the road for fear someone would let something slip.  So, we were ignoring her after a fashion and Laura must have been the only one with a conscience, so she pushed for us to drive all the way to Fort Wayne on Sunday night.   So, after a brief stop off in scary, Gary, IN, including a bathroom pit stop with a non-English speaking man in a turban behind a glass security barrier and bars on all the windows whose bathroom had orange cones and anti-freeze inside and was automatically locked so that in the end only two of us could use it after all, we headed to surprise mom.
It was around 9:30 (Indiana time) at night when we reached Fort Wayne and Anndee was having a hard time keeping mom up.  My mother, who usually stays up late, wanted to go to bed early.  In the end, I called her (because I the rest of them said I was the least likely to spoil the surprise) and made small talk to keep her up until we reached her parking lot.  Anndee met us outside and led us in to the apartment.  She called mom out of the back room and we had Haylee and Morgan standing in the kitchen.    Mom screamed and waved her arms hysterically.  It was so good!!!  She kept hugging the girls and mumbling about not believing that we were really here.  We have great video, but my mom won't let me post it.   We all ended up in the hotel down the street, including mom who still said she wanted to sleep on the floor of her apartment instead???????