It had been a number of years since our family had made a road trip to see family in other parts of the country, and it was time.
My Dad organized a family heritage trip to see Newald, WI, the town that he had grown up in and he invited all of his kids, his siblings and all of their kids. The Jauquet Newald trip was scheduled for the beginning of August and we decided that it was a great opportunity to see more of the country and to make the drive to Colorado to also visit the Kehrmans.
Jim and I spent a few days going over our itinerary and plotting our drive, and then looking for hotels in the optimal spots along our route. It took a lot of planning and we felt good about the end result.
We packed the van Friday night and prepped everything to be ready for our Saturday morning departure. Our first day was going to be all driving, our goal was to get all the way to Wisconsin. We were blessed with pleasant weather and easy traffic. We had packed our lunch and lots of snacks, so we were set for food. This meant that our stops were simplified and we only needed to stop for gas and the bathroom. We made sure to stretch our legs and get some walking or stretching in. Johanna needed to burn some energy and sometimes we would run around in the grass. We had planned to have Emma drive a leg in the easy open stretches, but Jim and I each got into a good zone so we took long turns at the wheel. Emma didn't start driving until Indiana and all of a sudden we were in Chicago. It wasn't our plan but Emma proved herself to be ready for the task of huge multi-laned highway and navigated the directions keeping us on the right course. It also happened to be dinner time during her turn at the wheel and we debated our options and easy exit points, finally winding up at Subway. This was when our easy drive got less pleasant. The evening hungry crankiness of being couped up started to kick in. Thankfully our drive north into Wisconsin wasn't long and soon were we at our hotel near the Racine airport. It was good to get out of the van for a while.
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