Turkey Day in Dixie -Updated-

Hope you guys all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Danielle and I left with Brian & Rachel Wednesday morning at 7:30 and dropped them off in Bel Air, MD around 2:30. After a quick sandwich, we hit the road again only to get stuck in Washington/Baltimore traffic at RUSH HOUR the DAY BEFORE A HOLIDAY. Not good. We were sitting -- literally -- for three hours. I wanted to cry the whole time. We spent the night in Raleigh, NC (totally unplanned....it was getting way too late and unsafe to continue driving) with some dear friends of mine from my Florida days. Then this morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and got on the road again -- but not after surprising my best friend Chris' parents at their house in Raleigh with an unannounced visit! We had a nice, albeit quick, visit with them...although I think that his mom was a little bit embarrassed of our car in their neighborhood (it was caked white with road salt from up north). So she told us to wash it...and soon. Haha! Anyhow, we reached Myrtle Beach at 2pm, a full 31 hours after we left Erie yesterday morning. CRAZY!! Dinner was awesome, of course. And tomorrow we are meeting a couple more dear friends (Tom & Tanya) from college who are driving up to Myrtle Beach from Charleston. I can't wait to see them!!!!!

Because our trip down was so horrible, I don't think we'll be driving anywhere anytime soon. In fact, I'm not sure if I ever want to get in our car again. Ugh! So, Brian & Rachel -- looks like you're on your own for heading back to Erie on Monday. ;-)

Also, I know that I am going to cause a lot of controversy here, but I'm going to go ahead and say that I absolutely love the south.

Maybe it's the sun....maybe it's something in the water.....
But I just feel......happier here.

However, the south doesn't get snow. So, looks like the north wins (again).

the end.

2 of the 41,000,000

Danielle and I are going to be 2 out of an estimated 41 million people who are going to be traveling 50 miles or more next week for Thanksgiving. We are going to be going down to South Carolina to see my Dad and his wife. It should be a fun time. Hopefully we have good weather on the way down, although there is a little part of me that hopes for bad weather (it makes the trip fun).

We're going to have a bunch of new music to listen to (although D and I are notorious for....GASP....having conversations while we drive long distances). In addition to having three full CD's of Christmas music (compliments of Aaron), Danielle downloaded the new Casting Crowns Christmas CD and Sara Groves' new Christmas CD. So we're set music-wise for the trip. I'm wondering if we'll even listen to them, though? We might have too much to talk about.

Another great thing about this trip is that is going to be HALF the cost of the exact same trip that we took just three months ago over Labor Day weekend. Consider that gas, at that time, was about $4/gallon. I heard on the news this morning that the national average of gas will fall below $2/gallon by Thanksgiving. Checking the trusty gasbuddy.com, I see that there are places along our journey that are currently selling gas as low as $1.69/gallon. In the same news report this morning, they said that it is entirely possible that we could see $1.00/gallon gas by midwinter. ONE DOLLAR PER GALLON?? I can't even fathom that. I mean, I've seen it before, but ask me two months ago if that was possible ever again, and I definitely would have said no.

It's strange, because I understand that the country (and the world) is suffering through really bad economic times right now. But for somebody who has nothing invested in the stock market or any other kinds of investments, I actually feel really good about the way things are right now. With gas so low, it's beginning to affect prices on other things too...which is awesome news. Is it bad that I am actually feeling hopeful in this time that so many people are struggling?

Well, I'm going to sign off. But, before I do, I realize that my love for all things winter is a little too obvious to those who know me well. Even here on this blog, I have been talking quite a bit as of late about the weather. But this blog isn't a weather blog, and I know that I must talk about other things once in a while. So today, I'm not going to talk about how AccuWeather says we're supposed to get another 18.5" of snow by Sunday.

Observations from a midwestern roadtrip

We left Erie on Sunday morning at 7:30. Ahead of us was a 14 hour trip that, with the one hour time change, would put us into Minneapolis at 8:30 central time. We decided that we only wanted to drive in the sunlight; not because we hate driving in the dark, but because we wanted to see everything along the way. The drive went well, although we did hit some July 4th weekend traffic woes in and around the Chicago area. The weather was near-perfect which made for smooth sailing for pretty much the entire journey. Here are some observations from the road:

1. Planning for light traffic on a Sunday in the country's third largest city is not good planning. Also, don't forget to factor in holiday traffic when, in fact, there has been a holiday on the preceding Friday.


2. I am not a city-lover. As my wife knows all-too-well, my idea of fun is tenting in the middle of a completely deserted wilderness with none of the modern conveniences of daily life to distract me. Still, Chicago looks like a fun city that I would like to explore sometime. But only once.

3. I always thought that St.Olaf was the town in Minnesota from where Rose Nylund hailed.
Well, this trip has proven me wrong. Assuming that Rose Nylund was not getting gas along the Illinois Turnpike, I am rather amused (and somewhat excited) that St.Olaf is indeed a real place.


5. Depictions of the Midwest in movies and TV shows are seemingly accurate. There are corn fields and different kinds of mills as far as the eye can see.


6. I'm convinced that most media does not know what they're talking about. While they are running story after story about how high gas prices are affecting everybody's vacation plans, it didn't much seem like it as we drove on Sunday. Traffic going east was absolutely insane. Thank goodness we were heading west. Traffic was backed up from near Rockford, Illinois to the middle of Wisconsin (about 200 miles).


7. Wisconsin's highway numbering system is wonky. Indeed, they're not even numbers. They're letters. Take, for instance Highway PP and Highway EW:


8. For America's Dairyland (as they proudly proclaim on their license plate), Wisconsin didn't have as much cheese as I thought it would. However, it did have it's fair share of tornado and flood damage from earlier this year.


9. We arrived the Twin Cities just as the sun was setting. It was really beautiful, actually. It was as if the Twin Cities' Chamber of Commerce knew we were arriving and arranged the most perfect of evenings to welcome us:



Overall, it was a really great drive. In retrospect, it doesn't seem like it took 14 hours...but roadtrips with Dave and Danielle are always so fun that you don't even notice how long the drive is. Even the gas prices weren't as bad as had been feared. The highest we saw was just outside Chicago with $4.49/gallon. As we approached the 14th hour, we both commented on how much we wanted to continue driving because we had had so much fun. Actually, that's a lie. I thought it...but I didn't say it. I love road trips with my wife. I love my wife! :-)



Today, we are heading to the Fogo De Chao Churrascaria for lunch. I haven't been to a churrascaria since I traveled to Brazil several years ago. It goes without saying that I am pretty darn excited!!