And So It Begins...

The gaping maw awaits its feeding. Yes, my husband and I are taking our first significant road trip in many years and our vehicle needs to be packed for the journey. It is a tetris event due to the fact that we are over-packers. We are heading to Oregon to see our daughter and son-in-law. Traversing three time zones and countless ecosystems means luggage and more luggage in our be-prepared-for-anything minds. I am happy to report that we were able to get everything in the vehicle except one non-negotiable item that was forgotten until we were forty minutes down the road. Homicide number one was pondered briefly until we took a deep breath and turned ourselves around. Restart.

It is a given that our road trips usually begin by bucking winds at a level 8 on the Beaufort wind scale. Needless to say, gas mileage was a little bleak but we managed to make our way to Spearfish for our first night.

I was in a penny-pinching mood when I booked our hotels and perhaps I pinched a little too much for our first evening. We had a second floor room with no elevator. Good gracious, the thought of lugging our ponderous bags and large cooler up the stairs sent me into a mini-meltdown in the parking lot. My calm husband let me have my snit fit until I was ready to do what had to be done. We schlepped our stuff up the stairs and settled into our room. Our plan was a microwaved dinner in our room but, alas, there was no microwave. Snit fit, number two.

Thank goodness for the welcoming beacon across the street also known as McDonalds. A cheeseburger, an 8-piece chicken McNuggets order and a side of fries soothed our ravaged souls. We finished the evening with an episode of Shetland and let the day's challenges melt away with a good murder mystery.

On the plus side, our room was clean and comfortable and the desk attendants were outstanding. Road trips are all about pivoting and trusting the process. Here’s hoping I can keep that in mind when the next speed bump occurs.

A couple more pics.........

The view from my early morning walk with stunning pink hues caressing the hills. Not a bad way to start the day.

Yes, that is a box of Cheez-Its on the roof of our vehicle. Miraculously, they made it all the way to the McDonald's parking lot, unscathed, before we noticed them. And they still tasted delicious. Crisis averted.