Roadtrip: The Final Push to West Virginia

After 12 days and over 3,000 miles, the traveling circus has finally made land fall in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  We were greeted last night by Ed and Nancy Kautz and their four dogs: Chessie, Sparky, Elmo, and Peewee.  Needless to say there was a lot of barking, sniffing, and getting to know one another (on the canine front, that is).  We are all so happy to be out of the car!

Friday morning we were woken up by a huge thunderstorm rolling through directly overhead in LaCrosse, WI.  That helped us get a nice early start, but it wasn't too long until we were wooed off the freeway by the promise of Wisconin cheese.  The Cheese Chalet provided us with such an opportunity, as well as stickers, some wine, and both antelope and pheasant meat sticks.  Wisconsin is such a pleasant place.

Mmmmm, Wisconsin cheese...

 Things got decidedly less pleasant the closer we got to Chicago.  Carl's mood got darker with every mile and every additional driver on the already crowded road.  He is not a fan of cities.  Even when we escaped the freeway and were driving past lush parks, endless bike paths, and cool old buildings, he was still dreaming of the wide open spaces of Montana, Idaho, anywhere but there.  The reason we stopped by Chicago, instead of giving it a wide berth, was to pay a visit to my new employers, the Northwest Passage.  They do adventure travel locally and all over the world, and when I head to Greece in September it will be to lead a couple trips for them.  Everyone there was very friendly, and one young man took on the daunting task of teaching Carl and me to stand up paddle board (also known as SUPing).

It takes a little bit to get familiar with the feel of a bobbing board under your feet, and swinging around a seven foot paddle to control said board.  The fact that Lake Michigan was heaving with 2 to 3 foot waves and 20 knot winds didn't help the situation.  Despite the challenging conditions, we both managed to stand up and get the hang of it.  It's both incredibly fun and a really, really good full body workout, especially after being in a car for the past week and a half.

Carl walking on water on Lake Michigan

And I'm up!  This is definitely my new favorite thing

The folks at Northwest Passage were kind enough to let us crash in a spare room.  Next morning none of us were ready to wake up or get back in the car.  There are significantly more people east of Chicago and Carl did an admirable job of getting us through the eleven and a half hour drive as efficiently as possible, fueled by Wisconsin cheese whips and pheasant sticks.  It was hard to tell who was more excited at turning down the driveway to Knutty Acres, us or the dogs.

So far we've slept in, done laundry, eaten lots of fresh fruit and homemade pie, and watched a massive rain storm roll through.  We have a couple days to decompress before heading to Morgantown to revisit Carl's college days and to Columbus, OH for another wedding.  Cell phones don't really work down here in the hollow so the best way to reach me is electronically.

We've got more pictures, so check them out by clicking here, or go to this address: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.672706189749.2080724.50802819&type=1&l=415c6ead63
Look for more updates soon!