Road Trip!

By the time this is posted, I will be on a train to Chicago with my friend Grace.

We’re going up for a work-related conference,*and afterward, we’ll be taking another train down to my parent’s house to meet up with my husband , MIL, and Baby (who all drove down yesterday in a rented van), be reunited with Older Daughter, and to see my sister and my brand new(ish) nephew.

This sounds nice and tidy, but, like a swan gliding serenely on a still pond, there will actually be a hell of a lot of activity going on underneath. And I am not the world’s most casual, competent,  blasé traveler by any means, even when I’m with Grace, who just may be.

This is the actual complete itinerary breakdown from the beginning to the end (that oddly resonant sound you hear are my anxiety disorders tuning up for the journey) :

Thursday: My husband, MIL, and Baby drive in a rented van—toting a large suitcase of Grace’s and a smaller one of mine—to my parent’s house in Ohio (about an 8 hour trip).  They will be making a slight detour to my husband’s home town (also in Ohio) and drop off my MIL so she can spend the weekend with her other grandchildren**

Friday: Grace picks me up at 6am and drives us an hour away to the train station.  We will spend the four hours traveling to Chicago either writing, doing needlepoint, reading, napping, or teaching Grace to knit socks with two circular needles.***  We will arrive by noon, drop our stuff off at the hotel (check-in is later), grab some lunch somewhere, and then go to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Harry Potter exhibit.  Or maybe the Aquarium.  Or maybe both!

Saturday: Grace and I will check out of the hotel early and schlep our stuff to the conference.  We will spend most of the day gathering materials and freebies.^  A little after five, we will dash to the station to catch the night train to Ohio.  We will spend the nine hours of travel time sorting through our goodies and, possibly, snoring with our mouths open (okay, that would be me).

Sunday: We will arrive at our station at 4am.  Dad will be there waiting, having received my call an hour earlier,^^ to drive us to the house in which I grew up and in which Grace and I intend to sleep for at least six hours.  Grace’s mother will pick her (and her luggage) up around noon to go on for an extended vacation.  Later on, my husband will go to pick up my MIL and see some of his family, while the rest of us go out to dinner with my sister and her family so she and I can see each other’s latest (and last) babies.^^^

Monday: My husband, MIL, kids, and I will pile into the van and go home.  Hey, it’s a seven hour drive back, too!  Joy!

Tuesday: I take the day off to collapse, and perhaps do everyone’s laundry.  And wait for the computer guy to come fix our Internet line so I can report here on what really happened, as opposed to The Plan.

Wednesday: I return to work to discover that my desk has disappeared under the workload.

Wish us luck!

________

*Okay, so we’re only going to see the exhibits and the vendors—it’s on our own time, so who cares?

**Yes, I was alone at home—Queen of the Remote, Orderer of Dinner, Hogger of All The Covers—for approximately 13 hours, 8 of which were spent in blessedly uninterrupted sleep.  Ahhhhhh . . . .

***Probably because she’s tired of waiting for me to knit a pair for her, which I can’t do because even when the kids allow me some time in which to knit, Baby keeps trying to ‘help’ by bringing me either the needles or the yarn, but never both.

^Half of our luggage is full of empty luggage in which to carry our bounty

^^HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  No, really.  That’s the plan.

^^^This will be the first time I’ve seen my sister in roughly four years.  There are reasons for this . . . but maybe not very good ones.  We’ll see how it goes.  It will help that she can’t hurt me any more by commenting on my appearance.