Ed & Lorrie's Vacation

I wanted to blog about this before I forgot all the fun we had. At my age- the short term memory is the first to go. Now what was I talking about, Oh yeah, our vacation. We left last Wed. afternoon - destination for the night was Missoula Montana. Ed had made reservations at the Super 8. Not knowing there were 2 Super 8's - he of course reserved at the one 5 miles off the freeway. But we were on schedule and so time wasn't that important yet. The next morning we were off and hoping to make it to Bismark North Dakota. The speed limit in Montana and North Dakota is 75 miles an hour so you really make good time - The weather started turning really bad in North Dakota and our radio station had alarms and warnings to find shelter from a severe storm that was approaching. By the time we got to Bismark we found the last room available and paid a fortune for it. The TV kept having alarms & warnings that 100 mile winds were coming and to take cover away from windows. Not much cover in a hotel room. We made it through the night and reached our destination the next morn. They are 2 hours ahead there and we had eaten breakfast at the motel. We visted Ed's cousin who insisted we eat lunch. When we got in our car to leave there it was almost noon our time. I told Ed, we've eaten 2 meals and its not even noon yet! We got to Hayward, Wis. and checked into our room which was awful. I'm usually the complainer but I was suprised when Ed said he would go insist on a different room. The population in Hayward in the off season is about 2,000. During the summer its about 10,000 so I was really suprised when he came back and said they were moving us to a different room. Ed's 50 class reunion was that evening so he decided he better take a nap so he could stay up that late. When we got to the reunion the lady that checked us in asked him if she remembered him, he had taken her to a homecoming dance one time. Its funny - because I wondered how I would feel meeting women that he had dated once but they were old and not intimidating at all! In fact as I looked around the room "I" was the youngest one there or at least looked the youngest. People were looking and pointing at us wondering who we were, I wanted to say "Hey, I am way younger than any of you and I didn't graduate with you."!!!! I sat at the table with Ed's cousin's wives while Ed made his way around the room seeing people he hadn't seen for 50 years. He was in 7th heaven! The one thing I did enjoy was the band that played 50's & 60's music. The next day we had breakfast with the Metcalfs and about 30 of Ed's relatives. Then back in the car and heading home. We made it to St. Cloud Minn. that night. On Monday it was on the road again hoping to make it to Glendive Montana. We got there late and every motel was full.So we had to drive about 200 more miles to get to a town with motels. By the time we got there I had been sitting for 3 hours. I could hardly walk. Our room was on the 2nd floor and we were so tired we didn't even take our suitcases. I grabbed my PJ's and told him I was just going to wear my same clothes the next day. It had been a long day. But it got us closer to home and so the next day we made it all the way home. We got to see lots of deer along the way,flooded rest stops, hurricane weather, up rooted trees, we stopped at the $50,000 dollar bar, going and coming, gas was only $2.59 - $2.79 a gal all the way, our new van ran great, it was a good trip. Long but just good to get away for the longest vacation I have ever taken. Yeah we could have flown, but look at all the adventure we would have missed!