That Elizabeth trip with Dad

Cate mentions that Elizabeth was off on a special trip with me this weekend. I'm not so sure how 'special' it was, though.

The last time I took Elizabeth with me on a basketball trip, we had a great time in Gettysburg, Pa. But that was a trip planned ahead of time, in part around her. This time, not so much. I went to kiss her good-bye Friday night on my way out the door and she asked, "Ooh, can I come?"

Robert had gone to a game with me in St. Paul earlier in the week, so I think she was feeling a little left out.

Little did she know it would require about 13 hours in the car and not much in the way of kid-friendly activities. I didn't even book a nice hotel because I thought I was traveling by myself. The game was in Grinnell, Iowa, at 1 in the afternoon, so we didn't really have time to seek out anything interesting to add to the itinerary. We stopped at a gift shop in town, which had absolutely nothing to offer, even to the point where Elizabeth noticed we were the only ones in the store, and said, "We can't even sneak out!"

She also had hot chocolate -- actually three times Saturday, in fact -- and a cinnamon roll at Saints Rest, a coffee shop in town. She helped me maintain my cover (I went to the game unannounced) and watched it with me, and was interested for a while but even a 130-109 game couldn't hold her. She was patient as I talked to players after the game.

Where she broke down was after two hours in the car on the way home, when I was suggesting we would stop anywhere but an Applebee's.

See, we were about 65 miles south of the next Applebee's on the interstate, and the road was not in great shape, so I was hoping we could stop and eat in hopes that the road would get treated and be a little more drivable. But no, not so much. Her response was, "when we go out to dinner, we never get to eat anywhere NICE!"

Real tears. And yes, apparently Applebee's is the definition of nice.

So, Ryan confirmed for me that the next Applebee's north of us (there was no chance I was backtracking 20 miles in that weather) was in Mason City, Iowa. And Elizabeth wanted to wait. So we trudged north at anywhere from 40-55 mph to get there.

Elizabeth ordered steak, but I was impressed: The first thing she ate off the plate wasn't the steak, or the gigantic baked potato (with its -- honest to goodness -- three tablespoons of butter), but the zucchini. And then the broccoli. She rattled off for me all the things she loves about Applebee's: the kitsch (my description) on the walls mostly. But honestly, it's almost the only place she's ever been on a regular basis, going back a decade. I remember taking her to Applebee's with the Jensens when she was a baby. Before she ate, frankly. And it's the place she would go to dinner with Patty most frequently. (Breakfast, IHOP, different story.) So it's sentimental value for her. Much like ... uhh ... yeah, I can't come up with anything for me. We stopped going when we started needing to feed and entertain three kids there.

My car doesn't have a functioning CD player, so we were at the mercy of the radio the whole trip. Elizabeth's popular musical appreciation is somewhat limited, but she's familiar with just about anything the folks at Kids Bop have covered, which apparently includes John Mayer's Waiting for the World to Change. I got a kick out of listening to her sing that.

I'm sure she'll remember it as boring, and I know it was for her. But it was nice to have her riding shotgun. And if I have more than five minutes' warning we can work on the itinerary with her in mind.

Life behind the wheel

It was 1,262 miles for me to get from Sterling to Minneapolis (and 1,220 for Cate to do the same, thanks to our odometers). Plenty was seen and much was remembered. More was forgotten, though, I'm sure.

Five years ago we drove to Minneapolis for vacation with just two kids in the back seat, Elizabeth, 5-1/2, and Robert, 1. At the end of that trip I turned to Cate and said, "the next time we drive to Minneapolis, it's going to be one way."

And this was it: No return trip coming.

Cellphone camera leaves a lot to be desired, so here's my pathetic attempt at documenting the journey.

Our preferred way to leave Virginia is over the Point of Rocks bridge on U.S. 15. The sign as you depart, however, is fairly understated.

Maryland is a little more glad to see you.

I only wish we could have gone 55 mph on I-70 when we entered Pennsylvania.

This was the view for much of the next two hours, however -- the back of Cate's car or one of a bunch of others. Turned out that after 70 was reduced to one lane, there was an accident, blocking traffic entirely and backing us up more than six miles. We were going 14 minutes per mile for a while.

I am almost always driving the Pennsylvania Turnpike at night. During the daytime it's almost pretty in spots.

We also entered and left West Virginia and entered Ohio, but that was after dark.

Actual PODS containers being moved! Not ours, however.


Yay, Indiana. The halfway point was here somewhere.

Some time after Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! faded out, we escaped Hoosierland.

We passed a pair of vintage cars in Illinois. Or maybe Indiana. Or Iowa. No, definitely Illinois.

Took us a long time to get through Illinois. We stopped for lunch and then had some panicky moments where gas stations were few and far between.

Final destination. Or final border stop anyway. After a bathroom break and a hail storm we finally got to Minneapolis, after 11 p.m. Not much of a sign on U.S. 52 after crossing the border into Minnesota.