Road Trippin' to Illinois
I received a call from my Dad on Sunday saying that Grandma Provance had passed away earlier that morning. The funeral would be on Friday in Illinois. FedEx gave me a week off work to go to the funeral. I had the option of flying in to Illinois or making a road trip out of it. I opted for the road trip. It had been a long time since I'd been on one, and I always enjoy them. I was contemplating what time I was going to leave, and decided to leave at 4pm on Tuesday and then drive 24 hours straight to Illinois. Why drive 24 hours straight when I could drive halfway and then spend the night at a hotel, you guy? It's a pride thing. I didn't bring an atlas either. Why not? It's a guy thing. So off I went! I chose to take I-80 all the way to Illinois, which meant spending over a thousand miles on the same freeway. BORING. I'll tell you this much. I've been on several long road trips all over the country, and I'm gonna tell ya, Nebraska may be one of the worst states to drive through. I've seen it on a map. Doesn't look very big. Don't be fooled, I'm convinced it's the biggest state in the union, cause it took FOREVER to get to Iowa. Yeah, and Wyoming wasn't much better either. I just set the cruise at 75 and well...cruised. At one point, I drove 420 miles without touching the brake or the gas pedal. That's how empty the freeway was from about midnight to 6am. Not gonna lie though, at around 2am, I was starting to get a little tired. I brought some 5 Hour Energy just in case. Let me tell you, I drank one of those, and I was wired for seriously five or six hours. Couldn't have fallen asleep even if I wanted to.
After a long day and night and day of driving, I pulled into Forsyth, IL, the little town where I grew up. I had forgotten how flat it was after being in the mountains for almost ten years. I hadn't been back in 15 years, so it was quite the trip down memory lane. I took some pictures, visited some old neighbors, and went to see Aimee Orr, an old childhood friend who is now teaching PE at the grade school where we had gone. It was great to catch up and relive some memories, and I had to ask her if it was a little weird at first to be a teacher with some of the same people that were our teachers. Answer? Yes. Here's the grade school I went to.
I then headed up to northern Illinois for Grandma's funeral, where I picked up my sister Emily from the airport. Grandma's funeral was a bittersweet day. It was sad to say last goodbyes to some one so amazing, yet heartwarming to know that she gets to be with Grandpa again after being away from each other for 12 years. It was also a chance for all of us as family to get together, pretty much for the first time since Grandpa Provance passed in 1999. After the spending the afternoon with family, Emily and me went to Monical's Pizza, our favorite pizza place growing up, along with passing by the Rod & Gun Club, where I spent my summers visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. Very fond memories. After spending a couple more days with extended family and friends, I began the return 24 hour drive back to Utah.
It's harvesting season in Illinois, so combines were everywhere. I came across this little guy in my lane while cruising on the highway.
Welcome to Illinois. The land of cornfields as far as the eye can see.
So when I started my road trip, I decided to keep a tally of a couple things, mainly cause I knew I'd be bored to death on the drive and this would be a fun way to keep me occupied, and during the trip back I needed all the distractions possible because the trip back was NOT a whole lotta fun. Here are the some of the totals.
Number of miles driven - 3631 miles
Number of gallons of gas - 131.2
Granola bars eaten - 32
Pieces of gum chewed - 36
Bottles of water consumed - 24
Bags of Ranch sunflower seeds - 2
After a long day and night and day of driving, I pulled into Forsyth, IL, the little town where I grew up. I had forgotten how flat it was after being in the mountains for almost ten years. I hadn't been back in 15 years, so it was quite the trip down memory lane. I took some pictures, visited some old neighbors, and went to see Aimee Orr, an old childhood friend who is now teaching PE at the grade school where we had gone. It was great to catch up and relive some memories, and I had to ask her if it was a little weird at first to be a teacher with some of the same people that were our teachers. Answer? Yes. Here's the grade school I went to.
I then headed up to northern Illinois for Grandma's funeral, where I picked up my sister Emily from the airport. Grandma's funeral was a bittersweet day. It was sad to say last goodbyes to some one so amazing, yet heartwarming to know that she gets to be with Grandpa again after being away from each other for 12 years. It was also a chance for all of us as family to get together, pretty much for the first time since Grandpa Provance passed in 1999. After the spending the afternoon with family, Emily and me went to Monical's Pizza, our favorite pizza place growing up, along with passing by the Rod & Gun Club, where I spent my summers visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. Very fond memories. After spending a couple more days with extended family and friends, I began the return 24 hour drive back to Utah.
It's harvesting season in Illinois, so combines were everywhere. I came across this little guy in my lane while cruising on the highway.
Welcome to Illinois. The land of cornfields as far as the eye can see.
So when I started my road trip, I decided to keep a tally of a couple things, mainly cause I knew I'd be bored to death on the drive and this would be a fun way to keep me occupied, and during the trip back I needed all the distractions possible because the trip back was NOT a whole lotta fun. Here are the some of the totals.
Number of miles driven - 3631 miles
Number of gallons of gas - 131.2
Granola bars eaten - 32
Pieces of gum chewed - 36
Bottles of water consumed - 24
Bags of Ranch sunflower seeds - 2
Comments
Post a Comment