Road Trip

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Door County, Wisconsin.We spent lots of time relaxing, wandering around in nature, and enjoying time with family.

While we knew the trip would be memorable, we never expected the trip there to be quite so eventful.

Since this was the first long car trip for our 8-month-old, we decided to leave at bedtime and drive while she slept. We knew we would get in late, but it would be worth it for a peaceful trip for everyone. (Besides, Grandma and Papa would happily take the little rooster in the early morning and we could go back to bed.)

Sounded reasonable. It didn't even bother us overly much that we left 2 hours later than planned.

Until we hit five detours.

The first detour -- construction. Who closes an entire freeway? An exit, yes. But the whole road?  45 minutes later we're back on the freeway. Ok, no big deal, we're on vacation...What's one detour?

We continue on our way until -- the road in front of us is roadblocked. No warning, no explanation, no detour sign, no idea if there was a way around it. This is the main highway, people! After a few dumbfounded minutes of staring at the roadblock, we find an alternate road and we're on our away again. 

An hour later, just as we had almost forgotten the two previous detours, we innocently turn a corner and -- "What is that?...Slow down...is that--crime tape?" Yellow tape blocks our path. Hmmm... is the universe trying to tell us something?

We detour (again) until our way is blocked (again), this time by a fallen tree. We turn around and find our way blocked by another tree. We finally navigate out of the maze and go doggedly on, laughing at the craziness of the night. Eventually we turn with relief onto the final road, ready to fall gratefully into bed. The detours have cost us two hours, but we are now finally 300 feet from the driveway.

Our path is blocked by a fallen tree. Seriously!?!?

What, you thought the story was over? Well, so did we! In case you don't fully appreciate the scope of situation, let me describe the scene.

It's 3:00 am on a pitch-black unfamiliar (dead-end) country road. The GPS says it's 300 feet to our destination, but we can't actually see the driveway or the cabin. Who knows how far the cabin is set back from the road. It is freezing cold and windy. The whole area is without power and we are low on gas. We have an 8 month old in the back seat who we are sure is going to wake up at any moment. Our phone isn't getting a signal. We've just driven 7 hours and a TREE is BLOCKING our PATH.

My husband and I just stared. Are. You. Kidding. Me?!? What are we going to do??

You'll have to read tomorrow's post to find out!