Glad to be Home!

Well, this has been one eventful weekend. Ruth and I decided to take one last road trip together before I head to Singapore. After school on Friday, Mark helped me load up the last of the furniture going to my parent's house (mainly my bed) and I took off. I stopped and picked up Ruth and Julia and we were on our way. We made it to my parent's a little before midnight, and unloaded...Phase 1 complete and successful. If only they had all been that easy. Saturday morning my WHOLE family set out to find the perfect Christmas tree. We went to a Christmas tree farm, and after only about 45 minutes we were ready to purchase our 10 foot tall, 150 lb. tree. We got it home just in time for me to head to town to take off with Ruth and Julia again. Phase 2: Complete. At about noon, Ruth, Julia, and I headed north to Stanley, Iowa to visit Phil, Val, Andrew, and Carolle. We made it there in one piece, and Julia even slept most of the way. Phase 3: Success. We spent a wonderful evening catching up and visiting, only to discover that South Dakota was in a blizzard warning and we would be hard pressed to make it back. We decided we were both too tired to take off at 8PM, so we slept at Phil and Val's and decided to try again on Sunday. Sunday morning we checked the roads and thought we could make it to Sioux City before the storm hit, but no such luck. We made it as far as Fort Dodge and had to stop. The road's in Sioux City were icy, and the truck was leaking anti-freeze (not good in a blizzard.) We got the truck checked out, and AK's parents were kind enough to open their home to us, and we spent a chilly night in Manson. Phase 4: Rocky, but safe. This morning we left Manson, with our goal to be back in South Dakota by 2ish. However, when we got just outside of Yankton, the "low coolant" light came on, and the truck temp. started rising. We went back to Yankton, got some anti-freeze, and started on the road again. By Tabor, we were out of anti-freeze again, and truck was overheating, again. We ended up sitting at the electric association and waiting for David to come and rescue us. He made it, and we finally made it back to Ruth's house in Avon. Phase 5: tiring Laura graciously came and rescued me, bringing me home, where I am happy to be safe and warm, and ready to go to bed. Phase 6: Exciting! I'm home!