I think I officially retired on 6/15/2022 – Time for a new chapter!
We decided to celebrate with an Epic Summer Trip to Alaska and Back; following is the story.
6/29 WED We Drove on past Lincoln Nebraska and made it nearly all the way to Wyoming on our first day of driving.
More than half the day into the trip, I was driving on a nice, smooth, low-traffic highway when Aly asked to drive. Not a half hour after I put her in the driver’s seat. Within minutes, the traffic increased substantially and the highway turned into a rough road with frequent construction zones and traffic signals. Regardless, She did great her first time driving Tony. Jennifer and I (definitely -I-) were probably more nervous than she was.
We slept at a flying J with the genny running and the air on. The a/c does an ample job of keeping the van cool, but sounds sort of like a jet engine over your head (as it is on the ceiling directly over the bed, less than three feet away from your nose).
Today was a driving day, and we got in at least a good twelve hours. The Ozarks are well situated in the center of the country for traveling, but we often talk about the “dead zone” surrounding us for at least 8 hrs drive in every direction. Going northwest, it’s probably more like double that, we seem to be starting a habit of making the first day out a long trip down expressways to get out of our “circle of boredom”.
