Home again.  We survived 12 days, 12 states, and 3850 miles.  We fit luggage for the six of us in the car, plus winter survival gear, without any opportunity to do laundry.  We left in a snowstorm and returned to temps of 15 below.  We saw a lot of new places, did some fun things, and spent twelve days together, loving it (almost) the whole time.

Today was just a driving day.  We hoped to get home before dark, because we knew it was going to be cold.  Unloading a car in daylight cold is one thing, but in the dark is quite another.  The kids were also anxious to get home and play with their Christmas gifts, which we had opened just before we left, bringing just one per child along on the trip.

Today was also kind of a big deal because we’re starting a very restrictive diet with one of our sons tomorrow.  The doctor gave the ok to “live it up” during the holidays, but tomorrow we get serious about the restrictions.  And live it up we did, to try to give him a good last “normal” day before several months of restrictions begin.

As we approaced Des Moines, he remembered that there’s still a Krispy Kreme there, and asked if we could stop for doughnuts.  (Since Krispy Kremes from doughnut shop are the only ones we trust to be peanut-free, these are the only ones he gets.  We cried the day the Twin Cities Krispy Kreme stores closed.)  I knew about where the store was, and it was approaching lunchtime.  This same son has been begging to go to Chuck E Cheese for months, and we’ve been avoiding it.  So we told the kids that if we passed a Chuck E Cheese, and they spotted it in time for us to turn in, we’d eat lunch there.  We were a mile from Krispy Kreme and had never been on that road before.

Wouldn’t you know it, there was a Chuck E Cheese just off the exit.  And the kids, of course, spotted it.

So we ate at Chuck E Cheese, which was probably a good way for them to get some wiggles out after days of riding in the car.

We continued driving, and stopped for gas and ice cream cones in Owatonna, another last indulgence.  I suppose we looked kind of crazy to be ordering ice cream in the cold, but we’ve looked silly before.

Usually on the last hour of a trip, the kids get goofy in the car, but thankfully they were pretty good.  We pulled into our driveway just before dark, with thanks to my brother-in-law for clearing the snow and turning the heat up in the house.  We didn’t waste any time unloading the car, and the kids didn’t waste any time finding their Christmas treasures.

I put supper in the oven, sorted the laundry from the trip, and started to get back into the routine of home.  All the kids have school tomorrow, and our responsibilities, which were temporarily left behind, now return.

We don’t know when we’ll hit the road again.  For now it’s just nice to be home.

Related:  Notes from the Road:  Texas, Day 11

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