We've been unusually busy at Chez Buffy the past few weeks. We've made it a habit to visit with my youngest sister during the fall. She and her family live in Indiana, so it's not a major trip, but we wend our way through the farms of Illinois and Indiana and it takes us anywhere from four to five hours to make the trip. Normally.
This year Dear Husband's boat came out of Lake Michigan early enough that he could join us. So DH, Elegante Mother and I took off on Friday morning. We really SHOULD have been to my sister's by two in the afternoon, but it took us much longer.
First I was fifteen minutes late, and then Dear Husband decided that he wanted to stop for lunch at a Ristorante that had an extremely difficult entrance. He turned too soon the first time and had to return to the road, and too late the second time. The story of the Three Bears was running through my head by the time he FINALLY drove into the correct lane. So, between my fifteen minutes, his U-turns and an hour for lunch, we were running about 90 minutes late.
We stopped at a favorite bakery along the way and that added another 15 minutes to our trip. We finally rolled in at 3:45....FIVE HOURS AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES! A record, I think.
I would have liked to have the extra two hours to chat with my sis, but the trip was relaxing. Dear Husband drove the first part, and I did the second. I got to snooze and read for a bit. I'm the pathfinder in the family, and seemingly the only one who has memorized the directions (we've only been making this trip for about 17 years), so I took the segment of the trip with more turns.
The farmers were hard at work harvesting corn and soybeans. Most of them had cleared the bean fields first, and we saw dozens of trucks brimming with corn on their way to the Co-ops. Indiana seemed to have fared better with rain this year than did Illinois.
It was a lovely weekend. I enjoyed the visit, the trip, the activities....everything! And, I'm looking forward to our visit next year!