10. I can actually get some work done and some serious reading accomplished.
9. My garden gets some of my attention.
8. I am not living out of a suitcase.
7. It’s cheaper to be here instead of traveling.
6. I know the lattes here will be good (Down with Idaho’s disgusting “Moxie’s Java”!).
5. I can walk around at will, without waiting for the next rest stop.
4. I can recycle whenever I want.
3. I can eat healthy food without having to order the three “healthy” items from the fast food places.
2. I get to sleep in my own bed!
1. I’m with my husband

Dawn and I returned from our unforgettable road trip last night. I haven’t posted much because when I had access to the internet, I was either catching up on e-mails or I wasn’t in that place long enough to access the internet. Sleep presides over the internet, in my case.

Though I may still blog about this trip in a long-winded, novel-like fashion (see trip to Hawaii), right now I want to post some highlights, or at least some memorable moments. Disclaimers: This will not be all-inclusive I am sure, and these will not include anything before Columbia, since I have blogged about that already. This list is in no real order, just what I thought of first.

1. Our marathon, visit-everyone day when we left Columbia, MO last Tuesday. We said bye to all of our friends there and had lunch with Bethany, and then we left at about 1:30 or so. We arranged to meet my sister and CJ in Jonesboro at the Dixie Cafe, ate dinner, saw her new living quarters, drove to our friend Hillary’s house in Wiener, AR on a froggy (not foggy) gravel road that had bad consequences on the car, held the bebbeh and toured her place, booked it to Searcy to see my sister in law and her husband at Midnight Oil at 11:55 p.m., and drove to Heber that night by dodging deer (8 to be exact) and raccoons. We got 6 hours of sleep the next night.
2. Going to the emergency room late at night in Salina, KS in the pouring rain after paying way too much for a very nice hotel and getting an EKG and X-ray and getting diagnosed for a chest wall contusion. See explanation below, and pardon the run-on sentence.
3. Aaron’s party, full of food, fun, and family, also had its moments of excitement, including Daron’s famous riverdance, Dad’s accordion playing and Daron’s mandolin playing, Shannon, Anna, and Mandy having a few laughs, Dawn and I dancing to the music, Mom and Ms. Lowery visiting, and Uncle CJ, Aaron, and Papa enjoying the show. This was all after eating a full dinner of BBQ chicken, steak, baked potatoes, salad, rolls, homemade ice cream and fresh peaches, and an ooey gooey butter cake.
4. Visiting Granny and Pa–five words: coconut cake, corn, watermelon, salsa. OK, how about a few more: Dawn’s car needing Pa’s help, Granny and I looking at slides, and the grand tour of the premises.
5. Seeing my cousins and Aunt Lori in Rose Bud, as well as my in-laws in Pocatello
6. Lunch with Andy at “Crackle” Barrell in Tulsa. Oh, the hilarity.
7. “Learning” to drive stick in my brother’s new 1984 Toyota Truck.
8. Actually driving stick. On the road. In the dark. On deer-infested lands.
9. Spending the day with my brother and the rest of my family in Heber, which included touring my old elementary school, having lunch with my mom and brother, going swimming with my brother, going to sonic, and going with by bro to his open house for high school.
10. Finally getting back to Seattle (to an empty house–*pout*) after hitting heavy traffic on I-90 in the teeming metropolis of Cle Elum. Who would have thought??

*The visit to the hospital was warranted due to an unexpectedly hard, yet playful, blow to the chest delivered by my stronger-than-he-knows-it brother. This was my second trip to a health care facility on the trip. The first was to a MediQuick clinic for an ear infection. Sheesh.

On the trip, I read 3 books: Chew on This, We Are All Fine Here, and Blooming. I recommend the first and the last.
The soundtrack for our trip was provided by a variety of rock stations, as well as CDs by The Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie (not as rough as it sounds, believe me), and Amsterband, for the most part.

Now that I am back, there is quite a bit of cleaning up to do, as well as preparing for school, getting back into shape, visiting with Seattle friends, grocery shopping, and gardening. I did some harvesting of green beans, lavender, and roses this morning. I hope to pick some blackberries soon!

Thank you to all of our wonderful hosts and hostesses along this trip! We love you and miss you. Thanks to Dawn for dealing with me for 2 whole weeks and driving a million miles, or at least close to 5,000 on your own (we drove more than that, I just don’t remember the number, though I am sure she will).