I have no idea how were Natasha and Masha driving - I slept like a baby. By 5 am it was my turn to drive, so I was awaken. It's 55F outside and raining, I don't believe it! Didn't we ski last night? Oh well, that was in Colorado and now... Is it Nebraska? I guess it is.
I'm driving. The road is straight, I'm tired of looking at basically the same thing for so long, but suddenly, I look at the speedometer and see that I'm speeding, at 105 mph to be exact! As it's dawning, we enter Iowa. Natasha's parents are expecting us for lunch, but it looks like it's more like breakfast (the Sienna is going amazingly fast!) At 8:30, at the rest area, I wake everyone up, I am told that it's only ten miles to Natasha's parents' house. But I wonder, are they awake?
They're awake, and happy to see us, and of course; they don't believe some of our ski (they're at the bottom of our van) and Grand Canyon stories, and we don't have any snow, or Arizona dust to prove it! Even so, after awhile they start believing. Kids "plugged in" to the computer as soon as we came in - "wise" move of Natasha's dad, so breakfast is pretty quiet. Even though the kids ate, they did so fast, and "plugged" back into the disneychannel.com.
About 11 o'clock, we break out of Natasha's Parents' hugs and continue driving. Chicago is quite close now, it warm and damp, I wonder where did winter go? Children are watching movies, as I finally found a power adapter for the computer
Natasha is behind the wheel as we near home. Naperville, I-355, Itasca, Roselle, home! Hard to believe but we are back. House is there, gerbil is alive, flowers are too, thanks to Ira.
Before parting we sit down finish the beer brought from Colorado, top it off with tea and saying goodbye. Is this the end? Would we go somewhere again? I would like to believe we will.