An Illinois Wrap-Up

Our last week was a busy one in Illinois.  I didn't realize exactly how much until I turned around and it was mid week.  We spent most of the day Monday and Tuesday recovering from the party, picking up and finding new homes for everything.

By Wednesday I was starting to feel the stress of packing to leave.  We acquired a ton of stuff while we were up North and I was beginning to wonder exactly where it was all going to fit inside the Jeep.  Thankfully Mom and Aunt Mary were on hand to watch Mara while I tried to fit two months into the car.

The rest of the week was spent saying good bye to family and having lunch with friends.  We tried to squeeze in one last visit to everyone because we're not exactly sure when we'll be headed up that way again.  Mara got some last minute play time with Grandpa and tons of rides in the Cozy Coupe.

By Saturday I was just itching to hit the road.  Although I never like leaving I always get a bit ready to just get the traveling over with.  We left as the snow started to fall.  Kind of fitting for the Midwest and a sign it was time to head back south.

The first day went well.  For the most part I did all of the driving.  (Mom did tackle most of Ohio though)  The morning was quite with Mara falling back to sleep quickly and then taking a mid-morning nap.  We stopped for lunch and then hit the road.

We weren't quite sure where we'd stop for the night but wanted to get as far as Mara would tolerate as to make our second day easier.  By Mara's afternoon nap we were practically out of Ohio and decided somewhere in West Virginia would be our destination for the night.  We may have pushed it a tad to much as Mara had a melt down exactly as we pulled off the interstate for the night.

That night we relaxed and had a good dinner.  We tried to let Mara play as much as possible knowing she would be back in the car the next day.  Thankfully though we only had 4.5 hours of driving on the agenda for the next day so it wouldn't be as bad.

The next day went smoothly.  With less driving we were able to sleep in a little and have a good breakfast before hoping in the car.  Thankfully Mara seemed to forget she hated the car just the night before and did great.  She was easily entertained for the majority of the trip and we got home early afternoon.

The trip back wasn't the power house road trip as getting to Illinois was but thankfully it went off without a hitch.  I don't think I'll be making that drive anytime soon and am happy to be back home.