We're Off! (in more than one way)

Griswald Family Vacation

Here we are on the morning of June 28th. We intended to be on the road by 8:00 A.M., but when that didn't happen, we decided to use 8:00 Chicago time instead, and it worked. After stopping by Doug's office (he said he had to drop off some paperwork, but I think it was to gloat) we were on the road and ready to begin our adventure. Thanks Stella for taking our send-off photo.

I had a very Quixotic (not chaotic) moment in Indiana when we passed these wind turbines. They were probably 100 feet tall, very otherworldly looking.

Here's Eli at a McDonald's we stopped at for lunch on the way......He's not real excited to be sitting here.

Not excited at all.

Arrival in Chicagoland

Our trip will take us through 20 states and we hit five of them on our first day. After a fairly uneventful day we made it to Chicago just in time for a terrible rain/hail storm. Hail hit the winshield so hard that I thought it would shatter. It sounded like a baseball bat hitting Jolene (Doug's new Toyota Forerunner). My first thought---"We don't even our storm chasing helmets on in case the glass breaks!" Seriously, I watch those severe weather shows ALL the time. I am facinated by weather as many of you know, but we don't have helmets, so I'm not sure where that thought came from. Note to self....pack helmets next time. Jolene made it through the storm with only a fairly large "character building" dent on the hood. I think our luggage carrier kept the roof safe. After realizing we were all okay and we wouldn't need helmets afterall,  we chalked it up to our first really good trip story and road the last few miles to our hotel. Our Griswaldesque vacation has begun!

One Week Until We Leave!

With only a week to go before we leave on our epic cross-country adventure, I thought I would at least post our itinerary. Several of you have asked about what sites we will be seeing and in what order, but regretfully, I have not had much of a chance to even look at the itinerary myself to know those important facts. So, after consulting our Vance Family National Tour T-Shirt, I have learned that this is our itinerary:

June 28-July 1- Chicago, Illinois (Museum of Science and Industry, Museum of Natural History, Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier )
July 2- Walcott, Iowa ( World's Largest Truck Stop )
July3- Bloomington, Minnesota ( Mall of America )
July 4- Darwin, Minnesota (World's Largest Ball of Twine )
July 4- Wall, South Dakota (World's Largest Drug Store)
July 5 - Keystone, South Dakota (Mt. Rushmore, Crazyhorse)
July 6- Devil's Tower National Park, Wyoming (Devil's Tower)
July 7-9 - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (Old Faithful)
July 10 - Moab, Utah ( Arches National Park)
July 11- Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado (Four Corners)
July 12-14- Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (Grand Canyon)
July 14- Winslow, Arizona (Meteor Crater)
July 15- Las Vegas, Nevada (Hoover Dam, Pawn Stars)
July 16-18- San Diego, California (Pacific Ocean, San Diego Zoo, Padre's)
July 19- Tombstone, Arizona (OK Corral)
July 20- Roswell, New Mexico (Alien Museum)
July 21-23 - San Antonio, Texas (Alamo, Riverwalk, Schlitterbahn)
July 24- New Orleans, Louisanna