What was I saying about best laid plans yesterday? Despite our best efforts, 5 p.m. came and went with us still in the driveway. It wasn’t much past 5 that we pulled out, but those of you who know me know that my agitation level was rising. I don’t like to miss a deadline–even if it was self-imposed! 🙂

Grandmother was ready and waiting shotgun in the rental car by the time Tim and I got everything loaded. We booked an SUV for the trek, and I find it fitting that the SUV turned out to be a Jeep… a rugged car to match the rugged image of the West. 🙂

We were barely on the road, and Grandmother had an actual paper map out to track our progress toward Fargo. I can’t remember the last time I looked at a paper map for the purpose of planning a trip. 😉 Mapquest was my best friend as soon as I started driving. To be honest, I probably would be hard pressed to figure out where I was going if I had to rely on a paper map. Give me a GPS any day! However, I can appreciate the excitement of an open map of the United States before you. To think we’ll cover so much of that map by trip’s end!

Tim and Grandmother were like two old ladies, chatting away for most of the first leg of our trip. I was definitely the third wheel in the backseat. 😉 At one point I wondered if they remembered I was even in the car with them.

I enjoyed listening to their back and forth though, and recorded a few highlights from Grandmother’s musings with Tim:

On Grandpa Boggs and technology: Grandpa Boggs saw the introduction of the automobile, the radio, the television, the moon landing: Of all the things he had seen, the thing that amazed him the most was the ATM machine. Grandmother said that he was just bowled over when she pulled up and got money out of a machine.

Grandmother said the thing that amazed her most was the fax machine. She thinks it’s amazing how you can send something that will come out in a physical, tangible way in China. She also said that 3D printing is pretty amazing for similar reasons.

On apples: Grandmother ate a Fuji apple in the car that she said took her back to having apples at her grandma’s. She said it tasted just like one of her grandma’s apples. She then preceded to paint a lovely picture of her experiences on the farm, particularly of after dinner routines.

We’re stopped for the night in Madison, Wisconsin at a Comfort Suites (thanks to Uncle Mike and a friends and family discount and Mom’s loaned iPad Air that allowed booking from the car). (For you 70s Show fans, I yelled the obligatory “Hello Wisconsin!”)

The goal is to leave by 9 a.m. tomorrow to head to Fargo and check North Dakota off Grandmother’s bucket list before days end! (I refuse to learn my lesson about setting departure times!) 🙂

L