Our Bags Are Packed...

But I'm not sure I'm ready to go.  Our journey from Wichita to Saskatoon was very emotional for me.  I loved Wichita very much.  We lived there for 5 years and had both of our babies there!  It was close to both of our families and we also were leaving behind some great friends.  I'm emotionally attached!  I decided to document our trip.  Four days (which actually turned into 5) in a car with 2 kids and 2 dogs would certainly yield some interesting stories, right? 

Day 1: Wichita to Des Moines

Got up early to pack up the trailer.  I felt pretty worthless because I was on Neala duty. I took some movies of the house.  I asked Brogan if he was going to miss the house and he said "No, but I'm going to miss the dogs.". So I told him that the dogs were coming with us and he asked "Why?". Little does he know that he will be sitting right next to them for 4 days!!!  I guess he thought the dogs came with the house?

Left the house around 9:00...very emotional. Neala was screaming, Brogan whining about wanting to watch a movie...still in the driveway. This is going to be a fun trip!

Two hours in Brogan is already asking if we are there yet...Geesh!  He has us thinking about Jenn's famous statement to her daughter Ashley..."You make mommy drink."

Stopped in Liberty, MO for gas and lunch.  Probably one of many McDonalds stops on the trip. Casey didn't want to turn left with the trailer at a busy intersection and got us going the wrong direction and Brogan called him out on it. :) Such a smart kid!

We are waiting for Paige to bite Brogan. He keeps yanking on her legs and hitting her with the red pillow while yelling "wrecking ball!".

Casey is listening to the Top 20 channel on XM waiting to hear the new Brittany Spears song...but won't admit it. Ha!

Made it to the Greer household at 3:45. It was a short visit, but Neala got to meet Aunt MoMo and her cousins Emily and Sydnie. The dogs and kids played and then it was off to the Kempcke's. We finally got to meet Nora!!! What a cutie pie!  I love her cheeks...just want to pinch them!  Sarah and Craig are so thoughtful...made dinner (and breakfast) for us and had gifts for the kids.  They really are the best of friends...too bad they live so far away!

All in all, it was a great start to our adventure up north.

Day 2: Des Moines to Rapid City

Neala was our alarm clock this morning.  Like clockwork, she started fussing at 5:00, but she actually fell right back asleep until about 6:00!  Maybe the beer I drank last night made her sleep in a bit? We used the time to get the car packed up and enjoyed breakfast with Sarah and Craig. We hit the road for Rapid City at 7:00...Neala is screaming (momentarily) but the rest of us are in good spirits!

We drove past a wind farm between Des Moines and Omaha.  The windmills were breathtaking...so huge! Had to stop to pee in Onawa, IA after Brogan announced that he was going to have to pee when we got to Canada.  Gas was $3.28!  Yikes!

South Dakota has quite a bit of ice and snow. We stopped in Sioux Falls for lunch (Wendy's...not McDonalds). We found poop on the seat of the car when trying to load Brogan in...blamed it on him, but after checking his pants, it had to come from one of the dogs (most likely Paige).

Another gas and potty stop in Chamberlain, SD. Brogan wanted to browse the tourism brochures so I gave him a brochure on Mt. Rushmore and told him we were going to see it tomorrow. He said, "Oh, Phineas and Ferb built this!" Maybe that will get him excited about seeing it. The road conditions deteriorated once we got back on the road. There is at least 6 inches of snow on the ground and it is blowing over the roads making them pretty slick. I'm glad I'm not driving although Casey might say that I'm being a back-seat driver.

We stayed at a Best Western with a water park in Rapid City. Brogan was very excited.  We had a great dinner before we hit the park...steaks and drinks. The water park had a pirate ship and 2 big water slides. Brogan went down one slide with Casey and seemed to enjoy it but didn't want to do it again.  I tried it out and thought it was a little scary, so I'm surprised brogan did that well with it!  I banged my head pretty hard...my head was pounding.  We had a great night at the hotel after the long day in the car.

Day 3: Rapid City to Williston, ND

What a rough night!  Neala got up twice (1:30 and 5:30).  So starting off the morning a bit sleepy.  We found out last night that there was a winter weather advisory in Rapid today and they were expecting 4-7 inches of snow by Friday morning.  When we woke up, it was snowing pretty good and there was already about 2 inches of snow on the ground. We had to make the decision to skip Mt. Rushmore which makes me very sad.  We drove several hours out of the way to see it.  I'm kicking myself for not checking the weather before we left Des Moines. We hit the road around 9:00.  Temperature...1.

About an hour into the drive, Brogan is crying because he doesn't want to sit in the car. 
:( Ugh!

It is looking like most of our drive today will be on 2 lane highway. We stopped in Buffalo, SD (our friend Wade Johnson's hometown - population 380) for a pee break per Brogan's request. But when I took him to the bathroom, he must have not pushed "it" down far enough because he still ended up peeing in the back of his underwear/pants. I'm feeling a bit defeated today.

We didn't stop until 2:00 for lunch because there is just nothing out here!  Finally came across a Dairy Queen when we crossed the interstate, but it was the only fast food restaurant in town.

We finally got to see some beautiful mountains and scenery driving through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Took some pictures through the window because it was too cold to stop...-6.

We made it to Williston around 5:30 only to find out that every hotel in the town was completely booked. We spent a bit of time at McDonalds letting Brogan burn off some energy and trying to figure out what to do.  I was explaining our situation to a couple sitting next to us, and the lady asked if we wanted to stay in her apartment for the night because she was going to be staying with her boyfriend.  We eventually ended up finding a place to spend the night...the conference room of the Marquis Plaza. Brogan loved running around the big room and the dogs enjoyed the space to run and wrestle.

Day 3 was full of obstacles...here's hoping Day 4 goes a bit smoother. Especially since we cross the border and have to go through customs!!!

Day 4: Williston, ND to Regina, SK

We finally got everyone settled and in "bed" last night around 11:00 and Neala slept until 6:00, so we got about 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep...a great start to the day. We had breakfast at the hotel (with the oil rig crews - most of which seemed to be of Eastern European descent) and hit the road around 9:00.  The temperature in the car reads -21...not sure if that is taking the windchill into account or not, but I hope so!

Before we left Williston, I posted my last status on Facebook and sent my last text...sad moments for me.

We spent the drive to the border finishing up our inventories for customs and getting our documentation together. Brogan is having a Mater's Tall Tales marathon.

We arrived at the border at 10:30 and couldn't find any signs pointing us in any particular direction so we drove until we came to a person in a booth. We of course had to go into the office to take care of business. It was so cold that my fingers were in pain just walking across the parking lot.  Brogan was complaining that the cold air hurt his mouth.  I got my work permit and the kids now have visitor passes and Casey got our belongings taken care of.  Brogan was well behaved and one of the agents gave him a little Canadian flag. At about 12:30, we were done with immigration and I guess officially residents of Canada. One problem...we didn't export the Outlook with US customs...back across the border!  It wasn't long though before we were back in Canada. The temperature at the border was -20, but jumped up to -12 just a few miles north.

We stopped in Estevan for lunch...at McDonalds. It was basically the same, but the menu was a bit different.  Forgot to get gas, so we had to stop again in Weyburn.  Gas was $1.19/liter ($4.50/gallon). Yikes! It cost us $74.16 for almost 62 liters.

Casey is already annoyed with me about converting from kilometers to miles and vice versa.  It is very strange seeing signs in kilometers and its very hard for me to judge how far away things are when the distance is given in kilometers.  It's definitely going to take some time to adjust.

We decided to stop in Regina for the night otherwise it would have been very late getting in to Saskatoon.  We lucked out getting a really nice room at the Best Western Seven Oaks Inn...they had a big water slide and a restaurant in the hotel which makes it much easier with the dogs, trailer, and cold weather. Brogan enjoyed the water slide at this hotel much more than the other...more his pace.  We were all worn out but didn't get to bed until 11:00.

Day 5: Regina, SK to Saskatoon, SK

Neala woke us up at 6:45 this morning...what a good sleeper!  Brogan had a bit of a rough night.  Brogan peed the bed (not sure how since he was wearing a pull-up) and then fell out of the bed early this morning.
We took our time this morning.  I took a shower (first since Rapid City!  yuck!), got us packed up, and then got breakfast at the hotel restaurant.  Our waitress asked where we were from and said that we had an accent.  Zoe ate one of the decorative bed linens while we were at breakfast...stupid dog!!!  Casey and I worked on it a bit to make it look better and we are crossing our fingers that we don't see a bill for it! The best news of the morning...the car started!  It was a bit of a concern since it was bitter cold...-20F.

We hit the road at 11:00.  This part of Canada looks a lot like Kansas. It's very flat with the occasional hill or valley...and very windy.  We had a little Q&A time on the road.  I'm still struggling with unit conversions.  I was watching the weather network at the hotel and it might as well have been in Chinese.  Celsius and centimeters just don't mean much to me. I did decide, after people-watching last night and this morning, that we need to get some Saskatchewan Roughriders gear and Brogan needs a good pair of snow boots. I haven't seen a kid in anything but boots since we crossed the border.

We got to the Rumley at 2:00. It took us (and by us I mean Casey) 2 hours to unload the car and trailer. We have trashed the place pretty quickly but it's nice to finally be here. I can't wait to explore...too bad I might have to wait until April when it warms up a bit!