Homeward bound

Well, we are just about done with our epic journey. We are in Laramie, Wyoming tonight, after having spent the entire day driving across Nebraska. Who knew Nebraska was sooo wide? (Well, actually, I should have remembered that from our last trip to Nebraska.) 

The good part of the trip today was that temperatures were much cooler. In fact, right now it is 54 degrees here in Laramie! It has been wonderful. We made soup for dinner, and right now I am sitting by the window with fresh, cool air pouring in. It is so nice not to sweat!

Last night was the pinnacle of our there-and-back-again journey. We arrived at our campground just outside of Lincoln, Nebraska, hurriedly set up camp, and then drive into Lincoln for a long-anticipated dinner at Honest Abe's. Honest Abe's is a restaurant that Dylan discovered when he was on his mission here, and when we came back as a family to visit he introduced us to its many wondrous hamburger creations.

We all loved it so much that LaMar seriously asked them about franchise opportunities. (No luck, darn it.) Anyway, once we realized that we would be within 100 miles of Honest Abe's on this trip, it immediately went on the itinerary as an imperative stop.

It was with great pleasure that we all say down to a delightful dinner together.

I mean, just look at those beauties! And the parmesan truffle fries!!! Scrumptious. Here's an up close look at my personal favorite, the 1809 burger:

And yes, that is a gluten-free bun, heaven bless them!

Okay, I will stop extolling the virtues of Honest Abe's before I burst into song. (The kids are always so embarrassed when I do that.) Anyway, it was a fun way to cap off the trip, so to speak.

I am feeling mixed emotions about the trip coming to an end. It has been an amazing experience to see so much of this beautiful country. I don't want to go back to real life, especially with the dread distance-learning school lurking in the girls' immediate future (and mine too, of course). I am going to have a ton of things to get caught up on and new projects waiting to get started. But of course it will be nice to be home again and not have seven human Johnsons and one canine Johnson packed into a 200-square-foot box on wheels. Bouncing Betty has definitely earned a recuperation period. But we are already making plans to visit Yellowstone on fall break (we have to get SOME use out of that national parks pass!) so I am sure there will be more Johnson Journeys ahead. Here's to hoping the last 6 hours of drive time go smoothly tomorrow. Thanks for coming along for the ride with us!