1200 Miles

Jeff and I have traveled 1200 miles since Thursday. We've see three capitol cities, we've attended both a juggling festival and a pinewood derby. We were stopped by three different cops (all three without tickets, thankfully). We had some great time with old friends and met a couple new ones. It's been both an incredibly enjoyable and incredibly stressful weekend. I'm exhausted.

We left on Thursday for Springfield, IL, a city that neither of us has ever been to. We arrived late and headed out to a late night dinner with a student that Jeff had just met at a conference. We were out until after 11. The next day, after lunch with another new friend, Jeff had a meeting and I wandered around around the city. After the meeting, we headed out of town. This was at 4 p.m. We were supposed to be in Minneapolis the next morning, a drive of nine hours. With the exception of getting a little lost once or twice, most of the drive went fine. Most of it...

On Thursday we had been driving down to Springfield when we had missed a turn in the road. It was dark and we hadn't seen the signs. Jeff pulled over on the side of the road with the idea that when it was clear we would turn around. There was only one car that we had to wait for. Then the car pulled in behind us and turned on its flashing lights. When we explained to the officer what the issue was, he said we should just u-turn and be on our way. We thanked him profusely and headed out. On Friday night we were almost to the Minnesota border when we were stopped for going 6 over the speed limit. The officer sweetly gave us a warning. Not three minutes later we passed a car that also pulled a u-turn and flipped on his red and blues. This time we had been going the speed limit but Jeff had forgotten to turn off his brights and had blinded the poor cop. By this point we were shaken. Jeff was apologizing the moment the window was rolled down. The officer laughed at our poor blubbering selves and send us on our way. We finished the rest of the drive at or below the speed limit with the feeling that we were cursed.

We arrived at the hotel in Minneapolis at 2 a.m. and dropped into bed. I was out in seconds. The next morning we picked up our friend Josh and headed over to Mondo Jugglefest. We go every year and always have a blast. This year I didn't take any pictures but we still had a great time. We met our friends Lon, Lisa, Dan, and Lon's parents there. It was a bit more low-key than usual but still did a fair bit of juggling. And watched lots of great tricks. After that ended we introduced Josh to Ticket to Ride while waiting for Dan to rejoin us. We had dinner with the two of them and then spent the rest of the evening telling stories, laughing, and enjoying. At 1 a.m. we reluctantly headed back to the hotel. I don't remember the last time I laughed as hard or talked that much. Fun!

This morning Josh met us for breakfast at our favorite french bakery Chez Arnaud. The pastries and desserts are just as lovely as they are tasty. I had a fraisier which is made of layers of almond sponge cake mixed with cream and strawberries. Mmmm. I also picked up meringue cookies and some cream puff pastries without the cream. Then we headed north to watch Lon and Lisa's children participate in a pinewood derby. My brother was a scout but I'd somehow never attended one. We had fun and got to see Logan win Best in Show for his angry bird car. After lunch it was finally time to head home. After the terrible driving and long rides, four hours home didn't seem so bad. I'm exhausted but it was well worth every moment. A busy weekend but one I won't forget for a while.