Minnesota Day 01 - Travel

We pulled out of our driveway at 5:15, only 15 minutes off schedule.  Tim wanted to stop for coffee, but we were so early, even Starbucks wasn't open.  Then, we smelled it.  Poor Josey had had an accident in the car.  (Solid.  Yay!  This is what I'm reduced to.)  Out of desperation and also out of worry for the security of the two kayaks strapped on the top of the car which made it sound like we were in the midsts of a hailstorm, we made a stop at Route 4, not even 20 minutes into the drive.  Sure enough, our kayaks had shifted and needed to be re-secured.  While we were working on that in the middle of a movie theater parking lot, the dogs jumped out of the car.  We weren't too worried, figuring they like to stick beside us in an unfamiliar place.  Turns out they like to EXPLORE an unfamiliar place, and soon we looked around and saw no dogs!  We eventually spotted Josey, about to turn the corner of the building.  Tim gave chase and found Goober ahead of her, trying to figure out how to get in the front door.  I made a joke about Lassie playing on the big screen - Jeremy didn't get it.  At this point, I was convinced we would actually never get to the lake.  I was plotting ways to get the 2 kayaks INTO the car.  Tim is awesome, though (come on, we all knew that already, right?), and he got everything well-secured.  When we got back in and headed on our way, even the noise was a little quieter.  At every stop, he made small adjustments that quieted things (the "thrumming" of the straps) down a little more.  My terror at losing a kayak on I-74 dissipated to a low grade anxiety which lasted most of the drive!  Honestly, at 6AM, I was pretty sure I was going to have a nervous breakdown before we crossed the state line!  On one of my driving stints, there was heavy rain for about 45 minutes.  I HATE highway driving in heavy rain.  I survived.  Then, after a stop, I noticed someone waving and pointing.  We were right by an exit, so we pulled off only to find that the straps attaching the back of the kayaks to the back of the car were loose.  I had been driving with the s-hooks bouncing their way down the highway.  We lost one altogether.  It really wasn't too big of a deal, and the kayaks were still fine.  Another sigh of relief, a few adjustments, and we were back on the road.  Just a few minutes before arriving at the cabin, just past Tower on 169, we saw a small-ish bear cross the road about 100 yards in front of us.  All 3 of us actually managed to see it.  Without a doubt, from the car is my favorite way of seeing a wild bear!  We pulled in the driveway to the cabin at about 9:15 PM local time.  That's right, the trip took us 17 hours!!  And the payoff?  A cabin filled with d-con, just waiting to be cleaned!  We unloaded, clean up the awful mouse poison, wiped off some of nastiest surfaces, turned on the fridge, and were in bed by 11:00 PM or so.  Whew!