Home!

Well, we actually made it home! We decided to get a few hours under our belts on Friday night and took off around 7:30pm from NYC. Despite worries about the traffic, it was actually VERY easy to get out of the city, even despite the rain. Thankfully our Kia Sedona rental minivan had fold down back seats, so we were able to pack all of our bags in the back.

We spent the night in Pennsylvania near the Ohio border on Friday night. Saturday morning we got up and spent essentially the entire day trying to make our way through Ohio. We spent 10 hours on the I-80 Ohio Turnpike, 2 of which were at a complete standstill because of an accident involving a semi trailer. I overheard a trucker at the next travel plaza saying it was the worst driving conditions he had seen in his 25 years of truck driving. We did consider getting off and getting a hotel, but every exit ramp was jam packed with cars that weren’t moving and once we reached the Indiana border, it was all clear. At the end of the turnpike, I felt like giving the toll booth lady a dollar and saying, “I didn’t see a single snow plow on that turnpike, so I don’t feel like I owe you the full $9.” Of course I didn’t. I was just too excited to be leaving that snow and ice cursed state and didn’t want to spend another minute there. No offense to our friends and family in Ohio. 🙂 We went ahead and drove through Indiana (a very nice skinny state) and stopped at Joliet, Illinois for another night in a hotel. So much for getting home Saturday night!
Today was no sweat and we were able to get home, unloaded, and the car returned to the Des Moines airport with about 2 minutes to spare. To say that Eli is excited to be home is an understatement. You should have seen his face when I pointed out the “Ames, Iowa State University” exit sign. He smiled and said, “Blah, blah, blah.” Then he clarified, “I say blah, blah, blah when I’m excited.” As expected, we were attempting to get things unloaded while he was trying to simultaneously play with every toy he had left behind at “home, home” and showing them all to Lacey and I.

Thanks to whoever was praying for safe travels, because I think we had help keeping all four tires going the right direction on that 100% snow and ice covered turnpike in Ohio!