The calm, happy chatter from the kids and their eagerness to help let me know it would work and we would have a great time exploring the country. So despite the thought of all the long miles ahead, and even more so, the big hole in my heart leaving Clint behind, the first day was a pleasant success.
We took the route around the southern tip of Lake Michigan, through a tiny blip of Indiana and on through Chicago. Indiana did have an amazing rest stop that the state obviously took pride in, with cheerful comment cards tastefully displayed on the walls. So glad we took that breather before heading through Chicago. My original challenge from Clint was to stop every 100 miles or so and run a mile with the kids, but for this first day, navigating through tolls and city traffic jams, we just needed to reach our destination in time to make camp (and hope I really packed everything we needed).
The kids really were impressed with the Chicago skyline, despite that I suggested they turn off their movie, and that we got to enjoy a great view stalled in traffic for at least an hour. The girls snapped lots of pictures of their favorite features. I forget that a city is such a novel thing to them--I grew up till age 8 with the Portland skyline rarely far from view and seemed to always have a city skyline not far from view. These kids are mountain kids at heart!
After traffic came many more tolls. So glad I learned about that possibility from my trip to Florida with Taylor as I rarely carry cash or keep change. We made one last stop out of the Chicago area at Costco to stop for snacks and to buy Addy's birthday gift, a nice camera. I hoped we could charge it in the car, so she could use it for the trip, but our car outlet is too awkward to reach. She can charge it later while we visit my friend, Gina.
The kids inhaled Costco hot dogs and carrots while I found places to stash our snacks in every available nook and cranny left in the car. I'll have to take a picture of how loaded up we are, despite seriously packing light! Then we were off on the last 3-hour haul of the day through Wisconsin to our campground in the Wisconsin Dells area.
Wisconsin was beautiful, especially in the dimming light of sunset, those rolling hills and wide, open roads almost reminded me of the mountains. There's a hill just outside our campground that I'm wondering if I can even try to run up a bit when I'm done here. We pulled into our reserved campsite at Nordic Pines at 8:00 pm local time with just enough light to set up camp. We had hoped to walk around the camp a bit to stretch our legs, but didn't make it past the clusters of magical fireflies in the blackberry bushes. We are all in love with these new things. Kenna was so excited to have one in our tent to just lay and watch. She insisted I get a picture--I actually caught one with the flash despite the pitch black dark. So glad I could share that bit of fun with her before drifting to sleep.
I slept surprisingly well, and didn't hear a peep from the kids or the dog all night. I did have ONE brief "I'm crazy to be out alone with the kids so long on my own" thought as I listened to the night sounds and potential "dangers" (car camping does scare me a little more than backpacking) but it didn't last too long, as the next moment I was asleep. It's so great to be at a place in life with the kids where we can do this kind of thing together, AND have fun, AND stay sane. Well, I guess we have plenty of more time to tell. 8 or so hours, 421 miles down and 25 hours, 1600 miles left to go till we make it to our long break in Sandpoint. Till then, it's a day exploring Wisconsin and four hours to Minneapolis for a long-awaited visit with my good friend, Gina and her family.
