Road Trip Report

This past weekend Ryan, Nathan and I embarked on a six hour trip to visit my parents and attend a wedding near Milwaukee. Ryan was rather tired so I drove most of the way while both Ryan and Nathan slept in the back seat. While I was driving, alone with my thoughts, here are some things to report on about the drive...

1. Distance - Dang, that's a far drive! I've driven from my parent's house to UW-Stout many, many times. That trip is about four hours. And I've driven from Madison to Ryan's parent's house many, many times. That trip is about five hours. But the trip from Ryan's parent's house (currently our residence) to my parent's house is an excruciating 347 miles which takes a good six hours to complete! Good thing its pretty much interstate the whole way!

2. Stench - Along the way, we passed about 4 dead skunks! I'm not sure if the Midwest is over populated with skunks right now, or if its mating season, causing them to dart across the road more, but there seem to be an abundance of them!

3. Music - I was rather bored while driving alone, so I wanted to listen to music. Because Nathan and Ryan were asleep in the back, however, I didn't want to the music to be too loud, disrupting their slumber. So, I set the stereo to only play in the front speakers and listened to the music of my Shuffle VERY softly! So softly, in fact, I could barely hear it! This actually became a rather fun game of trying to figure out what song was playing. Some songs were easier to interpret than others. Songs with a solid beat, higher pitches and female vocals were much more audible. The most interesting song I listened to at such a soft volume was "Bloody Sunday" by U2, which has great percussion featuring a lot of high hat rhythm.

4. Another thing I did to pass the time was think about what I would do if I were on the show "Take the Money and Run." I'm not even sure if this show is on anymore. It may have only had one episode. But on the show some average joes get a case of a million dollars and have a short amount of time to stash it some where. Then they get picked up and put in jail for 24 hours. During that 24 hour period, they get interrogated and "the officials" try to figure out where the money is. If they find it, they get it back. If they don't find it, the average joes get to keep it! I came up with this really crazy plan of what I would do, but it probably wouldn't even work. Like I said, the plan is crazy! And one thing I'm not sure of if HOW LONG they have to stash the cash!

5. Lastly, and most importantly, even though I really wanted to, I did not fall asleep! I was really cranky when we got there though. (Just ask Ryan... or maybe don't, its probably still a sore subject!) : )