On the road again...

I gained 39 degrees in temperature and lost 12-plus inches of snow cover today (pretty good trade!), and after 11.5 hours on the road, we made it to Ellen's in Arkansas. My navigator wasn't much help during the drive...




... as she kept falling asleep on the job, but more importantly...



... M&M didn't cause any commotion, other than changing from her seat to my lap every so often (and climbing onto my lap with her claws instead of jumping!)

The drive was uneventful, other than 1) seeing a number of magnificent hawks on poles, trees, or circling above, 2) paying only $1.39/gallon in central Missouri (today's tankful was under $35 instead of last summer's $80), and 3) spotting one of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobiles on I-44. Did you know they have been around since 1936? And back in the '90s, one of our Fremd HS grads who had been in my senior class the year before, brought one to school. It was her job to drive it for a year, so she stopped at school and took a few of her favorite teachers on a tour of the inside of her "ride." (It was just a large empty space with boxes full of Oscar Meyer hot dog whistles, promotional brochures, etc. -- and yes, I got one of the whistles and still have it as a memento.)