Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

We are still settling back in from our vacation to Iowa. We left on December 26 th, and returned on January 3 rd.  It was actually the 4 th by the time we got to our house, because we had a flat tire on the way back from Hyannis. We didn't get into the house until around 2 or 2:30 a.m.

The main purpose of this trip was to celebrate Clemmie Kinkor's 80 th birthday with a family reunion, but we stayed long enough to enjoy some sight seeing as well as long chats with Mom and other relatives. Ken had not been home since the fall of 1991, and although I had met all the family members, save for 3 of the kids, I had never seen them all together at once, and I've never in my life traveled that far west.

Christmas was a non event for us this year because we were so focused on preparing for this trip that we didn't do any of the usual traditions. I was also busy making mom's present - a memory quilt wall hanging, and because that got started so late, I was really working up to the last minute on that.

We postponed the traditional visit with my folks on Christmas Eve because I had come down with a horrible cold and we were still involved in last minute details for the trip.

On Christmas day we had steak and baked potato so as to have a festive meal that didn't involve big clean up. I made an apple crumb pie that we enjoyed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

On the 26th we were up early and out of here to catch an 8:30 bus from Hyannis to Logan. We parked our van in the extended parking area at the bus station. When we got to Boston we used the curbside check in and then made our way through security. We had lunch at MacDonald's and had plenty of time before we got our flight to Chicago. That first leg was hard on me because my head was so horribly congested, and I was sandwiched between two woman as Ken was sandwiched between two men in front of me. I had my heavy winter coat with me and that made the squeeze even tighter. Thank goodness that the woman were both tiny. I made a mental note that I should not wear such a big coat on an airplane, and that I should lose at least 40 pounds before I fly again. I don't remember the seating arrangement for the leg from Chicago to MN, but at least Ken and I were next to each other. When we got to Minneapolis there was a long walk and tram ride to get our luggage and then get to the car rental place. It was very hot in the airport and wearing or carrying that big coat made it worse, but we finally got our car. It was a Pontiac G6 - a mid sized car. It had a "change oil soon" light that came on as soon as we started it and it stayed on for the entire vacation. We finally made our way out of the airport, but as soon as we got out onto a highway the car started to make a loud thumping and groaning noise and there was a peculiar odor like hot plastic. I hollered for Ken to pull over and he did. I thought we had a flat or that there was something dragging on the tire, but we couldn't find anything. A cop pulled up behind us and wanted to know if we were alright. Ken explained the situation and the cop told him to pull into a gas station off the exit ramp to check things out. So we did. The noise/smell stopped and it never returned. A mystery for sure. This little detour got us a bit lost. We found a Sub Way to have dinner at as it was after 7 now and we were hungry. After that Ken found his way onto the right route and he went right along at a good clip to make up for lost time. We made it to the Country Inn in Decorah, Iowa between 9:30 and 10 p.m. and we checked into our room. It was a nice room with two queen sized beds and we each took one to really take full advantage of the place. Our cell phone service didn't work there, but we did have free wireless internet, so I was able to email folks to tell them I'd arrived safely.

.... to be continued.....