Surprise Part One (of many parts)

As Michael and I drove home from babysitting two Thursdays ago, we talked about how much we love Fall weather. This topic of course lead to imagining what Indiana must be like: invigorating crisp air, 70 and sunny, turning leaves of every color, Wabash football, and the covered bridge festival. Sounds a lot like the definition of perfection, no? As our dialogue progressed, we arrived at the conclusion that it would be the absolute perfect week to go home. It started off as a kind of joke, wishful thinking, but quickly progressed to "what if?" and then "could we really?" followed by "oh, lets just do it!" Very responsible, I know (note the sarcasm). But we did take some precautionary actions in between the above thoughts. Like checking Michael's syllabus for the next week, emailing professors, making sure Amberlie could cover us, and calling our moms to make it official. In the next few hours I frantically tackled the laundry, packed our bags, printed directions, calculated gas costs, and hit the pillow. The next morning, we left. And documented everything along the way. Literally, everything. We took a picture at least every hour of where we were and whatever was around us. So without further ado here they are. 

Departure: 9:53 am CO time.

1086.68 miles to Cville.

10:00 am first stop, Jamba Juice.

If you've never had the Razzmatazz, GO GET ONE NOW.

It will change your life forever.

11:00 am flat nothingness in northeastern CO. Smelled like poop.

12:00 lunch time. 

The secret to driving 17 hours straight through. But don't worry, 

I pulled my weight too. 13 hours out of 32 ladies and gentlemen, be impressed. 

1:00 pm frosty for Michael before we switched drivers.

2:00 pm proof that I really did drive!

3:00 pm Nebraska.

4:00 pm still Nebraska.

5:00 pm Again, Nebraska. But I'm not complaining, 

if it were Kansas you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the last three pictures.

6:00 pm sunset in Iowa.

7:00 pm Missouri

9:00 pm my iced caramel, yes please.

(no 8:00 picture...that's what happens when the other

person is sleeping and there's no one to use the camera.

I won't mention who that person was...)

 12:00 am Michael's idea, obviously.

 2:00 am Arby's chicken goodness.

 3:10 am downtown Cville, a sight for sore eyes.

Arrival: 3:15 am 

This is what our Mapquest looked like after 17 hours.

A work of art if I do say so myself,

although the top right corner leaves a lot to be desired.

No comment necessary.

Approximately five minutes after this picture was taken, 

we passed out on the living room couch and waited for my sister to

stumble upon us the next morning. Speaking of passing out...it's about that time friends.

But I'll be back tomorrow for the exciting-ness that is part two!

* or ten days later, you never know...