KATIE: Well, here I am in the car on my way to Oregon. My family and I have been in the car 24 hours or in my mom’s case too long! Last night I slept in the car. I woke up every hour! (1:30,2:30,3:30,4:30ect....) I live in Minnesota right? Well when it’s 6:00 in MN it’5:00 where I am now. We are seeing BEAUTIFUL things, mountain every where I look puffy white clouds, blue sky ,and valleys and hills. I have been through Minnesota , North Dakota , I’m in Montana I will go through Idaho, Oregon, and the top of California to see giant redwoods. A car can drive through them. The hotel we’re staying at is made out of 1 redwood tree! In Oregon I’m going to see the ocean. We are watching movies ... read more

The standard format here will be similar to that of a play script. The person writing, whether it be me, Cheryl, or the kids, will be indicated like this: PAT: The big road trip approaches. Just 2 days, 1 hour, until we depart....if everything goes as planned. If everything goes as usual, we'll leave a couple hours later. That's just the way we are inspite of my efforts. However, we're going to try REALLY hard this time to leave on time. The goal is to have everything packed in bags & suitcases by Thursday night, with only loading up the SUV on Friday after I get off work at noon. Why the big emphasis on getting off on time??? Quite simply, Paradiso!!! When I went to college at North Dakota State University, we'd often go there ... read more