August has been pretty quiet for us so far, which we don’t mind a bit after all the adventures we’ve had in the last few months. One such adventure began when we were in Indiana last month. As I mentioned in our road trip post, we borrowed our old Jeep from Luke & Hannah to make the trip to WGM HQ. We drove the Jeep all over the country in all the years we owned it, so it did have a few miles on it. 213,000 to be exact. She’s always run like a champ, though. Until the day she didn’t. The day after we got to HQ, we were driving through town and realized she was running super hot. Pete dropped Ella & me off at the movie theater and took Sam with him to the shop to get her checked out. Alas, they nearly made it. She started smoking and they called a tow truck. A week later, we got the final news. The Jeep was finished. While she was taken to the scrap yard, we looked for another way back to Duluth.
After checking out lots of options, it came down to flying from Indianapolis to Duluth in one day or taking multiple routes and means over three days. The costs were nearly equal in the end, and we weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere, so we opted for the adventure!
We began the journey when our HQ friend, Jared, helped us cram into a little car and drove us to a truck stop down the road. We never would have packed this much stuff if we had planned on traveling like this, but we were in a big Jeep on the way down and thought we’d have more space. We shipped one box home and carried the rest.
The next leg of the journey was from Marion to Fort Wayne by shuttle van. It took only about an hour.
The shuttle left us at the bus station in Fort Wayne with an hour and a half until our bus arrived. We all grabbed a bag and walked to Wendy’s for a quick dinner.
Sammy enjoyed the walk back to the bus station.
We made it back just in time to catch our Greyhound. Yes, we were aware of the probable atmosphere before choosing it, but we thought the bus would be a fun part of our journey. It was quite memorable. The bus was packed by the time it reached our stop. Pete & Sam scored seats together in the very back when someone offered to move, while Ella & I were a few rows up but not next to each other. Ella was exhausted from a week at camp, we were traveling after her bedtime, and she was sitting next to a stranger. This equaled tears, understandably. Poor girl. And, of course, the company surrounding us was…entertaining. Not really anything I would need my kids to hear again, but they weren’t really paying attention. So much drama! I actually enjoyed listening to all the different conversations. My overall recommendation? Don’t take your kids on the Greyhound. There are other bus options, which I’ll get to later. But if you want something memorable? Sure! Go for it!
Nana Olsen packed this in our bag when we stopped at her house on the way to HQ. I pulled it out for Ella on the bus, which was a great distraction for her. A couple people around us thought it was pretty wild to see PEZ again.
The Greyhound eventually dropped us in Chicago at 10:30pm. After loading our bags into an Uber and driving the short distance to our hotel, we tucked our kiddos in bed and had a lovely night of uninterrupted sleep. When the kids opened the curtains the next morning, Sam was greeted by his favorite action hero! Buzz Lightyear!
We didn’t have to be anywhere until after lunch, so we packed up and made a slow walk to the train station.
Sweetest face!
The whole reason we opted for the three-day route was so we could have a family trip aboard Amtrak. Friends, it was SO WORTH IT! We paid for a little family room and thoroughly enjoyed the eight-hour trip from Chicago to St Paul.
I keep looking at this photo, wondering how she can look so grown up already. Ella! Stop looking like a young lady and just be little!
Our family room was at the back of one of the train cars. The long sofa pulled into a bed and then two bunks pulled down from the walls.
We also had little tables pop up on each end of the sofa. It was so cozy! We read and watched movies and played games. Sam kept signing train and saying ‘choo choo!’ He was thrilled.
In the evening, we wandered down to the dining car and enjoyed a nice dinner while chugging past lakes and trees and numerous little towns.
It was absolutely the right decision for us to take the train instead of flying. We’re excited to do it again!
We spent the night right next to the train station in St Paul and then explored the station the next morning while waiting for our bus to Duluth.
Gigantic, open, echo-y spaces. This guy wouldn’t stop yelling! He loves hearing his voice.
We took a clean, quiet Jefferson bus from St Paul to Duluth, a bus I had taken a couple times before. Nothing like the Greyhound we had been on.
As we pulled up to the bus station in Duluth, we discovered Uber has come to our city! They weren’t there before we went to Kenya, so it was a surprise. Uber X wasn’t available, so we got real cozy in the wee car that picked us up. It was a short drive home from there, so we laughed and stuck it out.
What an adventure we had! Pete and I kept saying we were so glad we chose the slow route home instead of quick flights. Ella’s at an age now where she’ll remember these little trips. I want her to learn we don’t need to have complete control over our situation to turn it into something memorable. Memorable doesn’t have to be wildly fun, but we do have a choice how we respond to life when it gets hard. Like the time in Kenya when the van broke down and we waited on the side of the road for seven hours before another ride came. Not at all what we planned, especially because we didn’t yet speak the language of anyone around us. But it became a very sweet family memory. This trip home, after the Jeep died in Indiana, is a family memory we’ll talk about forever.
Do you have a good memory of something that came out of a less-than-ideal situation? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
