Sushi and Truckin'

I got to go down to Utah last week to help with some family stuff (moving estate stuff from my grandpa's house). My mom and dad have been tackling most of it, but it all kind of came to a head and so the kids got to come pitch in a little. It was kind of a whirlwind event and I wasn't in Utah for long, but it was great to see everyone. Most of the time was actually spend driving across the country with my dad and brother to help him get stuff back to North Carolina. Utah time was spent moving all day (8AM ebelskiver breakfast to midnight peach pie dessert with lots of boxes in between) followed by a 7AM departure in a 26 ft Penske truck bound for the East Coast. I did get a little sushi in for lunch which has for me become a Utah necessity. We usually go to Takashi downtown. The “magic dragon” roll is amazing. It was sad to see my grandparents house so empty, but it was an amazing memory lane trip to go through all their stuff again. My sister and her adorable daughter were also there and family time is  gold no matter how hectic.  I wish we had more time with them and my mom (or that they could have come on the road trip with us, but unfortunately they were headed in the opposite direction with their own truck).

The road trip was the quickest I had ever been on. It should have been the longest given that we literally were on the road for 16-18 hours for the two days with no radio/music and a bench seat for the three of us (middle guy had a huge parking break to fight with). The radio/music thing was by choice as somehow we found a way to talk all day long. Politics was a frequent topic with occasional sports and religion mixed in. We did some Subway, some Wendy's and lots of chocolate covered raisins. The scenery was mostly flatlands but we actually had some dramatic clouds the first day going through Wyoming and Nebraska (see photo at top of post). We spent the night somewhere on the Nebraska/Iowa border after unfortunately driving too far past Omaha.  It was around  midnight, so we had to stop, but the accommodations were a little tough.

The second day was mostly rainy and gray. We did Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  My brother had us timed to make sure we moved along which really was helpful as I never realized how much time it takes to stop even to fill up and get a quick drink. We had a hard time getting lunch and a fill up in under 45 minutes (it seems like we should be able to do it in 15).

The end of the trip for me was in Columbus, Ohio. I had to fly back to work so I had to leave my brother and dad to finish the trip. Carol and I moved from Columbus to Alaska and have many a happy memory in the buckeye state. We drove by our old house and stayed in our old neighborhood. I hadn't been back there since moving and it was really nice to see again.

I made it back to Alaska tired, but happy...lots of miles, raw fish and good memories.