Saturday - across Minnesota and Wisconsin

I mentioned yesterday that Sioux Falls didn't live up to their advertising phot. The quartzite rock around the falls really is beautiful, and I'm sure the falls are in Spring or when it rains.

On Friday we drove across most of Minnesota to Rochester. On Saturday, we crossed the Mississippi River into Wisconsin. Remember Gretchen in Seattle? Her cousin, Kim, lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin with her husband Rick. They have two kids, Rosa (12) and Henry (8):




They live in a really neat house made of cobblestones:









Poppa parked the trailer in their yard for the night, and we had a really nice visit. On Sunday morning, they took us to Rick's parents' house where Nana and Poppa had a chance to cool off in the swimming pool before getting back on the road. I hope we get to visit them again. They like to camp,so Poppa invited them to come to Pittsburgh so we can show them Ohiopyle.

Sunday was the worst travel day of the entire trip. We tried to go south around Chicago on I-294. If you're going from Wisconsin to Indiana, go north to Sault St. Marie, maybe into Canada, and back south through Michigan. Or, go west to Iowa, south through Missouri and Arkansas, then up through Tennessee and Kentucky. DON'T take I294 around Chicago.

They are doing a lot of construction on I-294, but still have the nerve to charge money to drive on it. AND charge you again. And again. Every few miles we were forced to leave the road and cross 3 or 4 toll lanes to the "$ only" lane, wait in a long line, and be told "That'll be $4.25" or "That'll be $2.75." Then we had to merge back onto the highway. Then we got to an unattended toll booth - exact change required. Poppa threw a couple dollars at it in disgust. He thinks he'll probably get a nasty letter from Illinois asking for more money.

Finally, at another toll booth with an attendant, Poppa had to pay another $2.75. Poppa asked "How many miles will this buy me?" She said "This is the last toll booth in Illinois." Poppa said "Thank God! Get me out of Illinois!"

(That's not exactly what he said, but I'm not allowed to type the real words.)
Poppa was happier to get out of Illinois than Nana was to get out of the desert.

We stopped in Richmond, Indiana for a few days so Nana could visit her mom again:





Finally, on Thursday, July 12, we got home to Pittsburgh! Our trip was 2 days shy of 3 months, and covered 13,073 miles! And Poppa finally found the beer with the picture of a fish on it:





I'm glad he found it, because he had worked so hard looking for it. Nana celebrated the homecoming too:





And I celebrated it with a friend:




On Friday, Siggie and I sat back and watched Nana and Poppa run around the house:
"Where does this go?"
"Why don't we have enough hangers?"
"Look at all the weeds in the flower beds."
"All the grass is brown."
"Look at the wasp nest by the garage door."
"There goes the groundhog past the trailer."
"The turkeys are all over the back yard."
"Where does this go?"

So, my story is almost over. I still owe you pictures of Glacier, and I'll post some again when we see Autumn and Brenna on Tuesday.

Posted from Nana's iPad