Day 1 - The Death March

We left Tom & Colleen's house at 6:15 AM. Decked purely in sweat pants and other "give up" clothes, we were finally on our way. The Avalon was stuffed to the rafters, as you can see:



Within the first hour on the road, the battle was too much for Leah and she succumbed to sleep. However, she would come back with a vengeance in Nebraska.


Goodbye Minnesota, you've been so good to us:


Breakfast:


We weren't very good at these games, but they were still fun:



We bought PB&J in order to save money:



After several uneventful hours of snow, windmill farms, and too many gummy worms, we finally reached Nebraska. I was quite sick of driving after 5 hours and Leah took over....and she came up huge.



Very bored in NE:




She drove all 6+ hours of Nebraska, and took us all the way to Denver!! I have never seen a performance like that from anyone...ever! (Editorial Note: I used to think Iowa was the bum hole of the U.S., but the 475 mile, stinky cow smell, nothing to look at landscape of Nebraska takes the cake.)

Our great friends from Minneapolis, Dave and Erica Morrow, arranged for us to stay with their friends in Denver. We were so glad that they did that because we didn't have to get a hotel that night (thank you so much Dave and Erica). While we were talking with our hosts, we discovered that he was a first cousin to Trista Watnemo! How crazy is that!

That day, Tuesday, January 6, 2009, we drove over 900 miles in about 14 hours. We were exhausted. I plopped down on the couch and Leah took the air bed - though she had to defend herself against the cat....and the subsequent allergies.

Here are the videos from the day:





(**Correction: the bag of nuts were from JILLAYNE, Jeff, & Erin**)




Life is a highway....




and....



Bored in Nebraska...





Leah is ungrateful for the orange I peeled for her :)




Still (!!!) in Nebraska!



Pears & Cows:



Pear-less in Nebraska:



Almost to Denver!!:



Finally in Denver!