A Slow Start

We had quite a slow start yesterday but we got a giant U-haul truck and two trailers packed to the gills. We were looking to leave between ten or eleven but it was about two when we left. We had to stop at Benton Harbor to return my wife's phone which ended up in my possession. The traffic from Benton Harbor to Chicago was the worst I've ever seen in Michigan. It looked like a lot of people from Illinois came to visit Michigan, which I hope is good for Michigan's struggling economy but I wish we had traveled through Berrien Springs and South Bend instead. We finally got to Iowa City about 1am and found out that the hotel we booked was in downtown and didn't have parking for our truck. It was kind of amusing but it was late and we had to scramble for another place to stay in town, as another hour plus of driving was out of the question at that point. We ended up finding a Best Western 2 miles away. They charged $20 each for the two dogs, but I think I would have made the same call. It was time to sleep and even with that charge the cost of lodging is small in comparison to our gas costs. I'm just driving and I was grateful for the comfortable bed. The motel was so cool with a medieval theme all around including the poster beds and the courtyard style swimming pool. This was quite unexpected to find such an ambiance in a motel and I'll be writing a good review for trip advisor. We're still two or three hours behind so we'll be driving 11+ hours to try to make some of that up.I have so much to look forward to this trip. We should get to my dad's house late tomorrow, Walla Walla and many friends the next day, home to California and more family on Friday (and my wife is flying in too!), and then on to Thailand.