My daughter has completed her first year of college. At the beginning of the year we drove together in her car to move her out to Baltimore. Someone had the bright idea -- not sure if it was me or not -- to take the train home. So I did. And it was amazing. I had a roomette from Baltimore to Chicago. I had time to wander Chicago a bit. And I had a coach seat from Chicago to Minneapolis. Full story at this link: Operation Lily Put
And now that she had rocked her first year, it's time for her to come home. So we're doing it backwards, but this time with a little flair. Coach from Minneapolis to Chicago, with a nail biting 2 hour stopover in Chicago, where I board a roomette on the Cardinal bound for Baltimore. I'll have a couple days in Baltimore to stay with my brother and his family -- including the adorable toddler. I was told she might find my concertina amusing, and my brother's wife even approved of and loved the idea. So I'm bringing the concertina and working so hard not to forget it on the train. That would be devastating. I wanted to bring the kiddo a toy accordion but couldn't find ours from when the kids were young, nor could I find it in any brick and mortar store. Just as well, since online I'm seeing them for $50! or more. For a toy squeezebox.
Speaking of adult children, my other daughter just graduated college in Iowa! I am proud for her accomplishment - through COVID and a derecho (land hurricane) that hit their area. Other daughter flew in and the in laws drove down from up north (and west a bit). The wife and the three all piled into our car (truck? crossover? minivan for people who hate minivans?) and drove 4? or 5? hours down to the college for the graduation. That's a squich under 300 miles. So we'll round that up. Total mileage for May: 300 mi.
It was a wonderful graduation and we had a picnic in the state park on the river, and it was really lovely. The graduating daughter had an apartment in Cedar Rapids and had mostly moved out of dorm and into apartment with roommates. But she was going to come home for a week before settling into "Adulting" for the rest of her life. So the return trip not only included the original gang, but another passenger and their luggage. So we have myself, my wife, my youngest daughter, mother-in-law, father-in-law, graduated daughter and accompanying luggage all in the car for another four and a half hour trip. Oddly enough it went fine. Having that many people in a vehicle can be .. tricky. But we made it home just fine. Total mileage for May so far: 600mi.
One of the perks for my daughter coming home was that we were going up to my wife's family land. 200 miles, 3 1/2 hours. And back. 200 more miles, 4 or more hours. (Wife was going to nap, so she approved my "take back roads for scenery" route. A bit longer, but when driving it's so nice to do something different. Total mileage for May so far: 1000 miles.
Oh wait, the graduated daughter lives in Cedar Rapids. So back to Iowa we go. Oh wait, the graduated daughter is moving into an apartment for her first time. U-Haul to the rescue! Unfortunately, you're not supposed to drive the trailers over 55 mph, so I checked the "avoid highways" button on Google's directions, and away we went. Only a few gravel roads, but it was so much fun to go through all the little towns and such. And you know how on the interstate superhighway and you get behind someone going well under the speed limit in the left lane while using cruise control to pass a large truck over the course of fifteen minutes - when you're trying to maintain 10 or 15 over the speed limit? Or the guy who comes flying up behind you as you're trying to pass a truck over the course of 15 minutes using cruise control? Yeah, none of that fun happens on the backroads.
Yes, you're going to come across some farming monstrosity, or a slow moving pickup truck. But they're going to turn off the road within minutes or miles. And on the way back even though I didn't have a trailer, I took a similar route. And I was alone. Rarely saw other cars, no traffic backups, etc. And I went through every small town in those 200 miles. I will say I was thrilled to turn in the trailer in Cedar Rapids. Noise, speed limitations, and horrible banging when you go over a bump all got annoying after a while. Oh and there was a "sour spot" instead of a "sweet spot" at about 35 miles an hour where everything just wanted to bounce around and make noise and push and pull on the car and so forth. Getting back on track - driving 200 miles in each direction - Total mileage for May so far: 1400.
I was getting tired.
So I arrive home and need to immediately pack for the next journey - the train! 14 hours after I got home, we're at the train station in Saint Paul and I'm boarding the Empire Builder. When I talk about mileage and such, I'm including the train trips. Yes, I'm not driving. Yes, there is a lounge car with hot dogs and treats. Yes, the seats in coach are ridiculously large and comfortable and there's even power outlets. But it's still sitting for 8 hours and craning my neck to look out the window at the sandhill cranes and rural backyard junk collections. So I'm counting it. If you have a problem, as always you are welcome to a full refund of all of the money you paid for reading this blog post.
Total travel mileage upon arrival in Chicago will be 1800. But that's in the next post..
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