There and back again...

We left later than intended again today. We were hoping to get out by 8am to avoid hitting rush hour in Chicago, but we ended up not leaving until almost 10am. After some plains, the drive turned surprisingly hilly. I didn't expect that in Missouri.

Nice to see trees and forests after so much brush and desert.

I'm not sure what Patty was trying to capture, but she did get a roadkill armadillo in the foreground.

We experienced some significant construction-related delays today, but overall, we felt fortunate, since there were a number of times we saw miles and miles of cars completely backed up heading the opposite way.

My parents made dinner for us, so we stopped at their place first. I think we arrived a little after 6pm. When we finally got home, it was around 7:30pm.

Home sweet home.

Just short of 6,000.

In all honesty, I was hoping that we'd top 6,000 miles on this trip, just so I could say we drove over 6,000 miles. I (very) briefly considered taking a slightly longer way home, maybe through Champaign/Urbana, so that we might hit that next big round number. But in the end, we were short by almost 100 miles, but we got home safely. The kids were pretty charged up when we got home, and it took awhile to get them down. Patty was quite exhausted, and she is now sleeping, as I should be too. I am very thankful to have been able to go on this trip, and for making it back home. I will leave further reflections for another day.