Winter Road Trip

Winter Road Trip

By Allan Olson

I’m seriously beginning to wonder if this winter will ever be done. Will we even have a spring and summer, or just skip them both and go right back to winter? Oh well, we’re Minnesotans. Despite the bad roads and cold temperatures, we still manage to have lots of fun.

On Thursday night a nephew arrived for the weekend. Nikolai was pretty excited, since the two of them are virtually the same age; the others were happy for his company as well. All the kids played hard after school on Friday.

We got up early on Saturday morning and left in just over an hour’s time. A college friend had her baby, and since she was pretty good at spoiling our kids for several years, it was time to return the favor. We packed sack lunches for everyone and loaded five kids and two adults and headed out on the snowy road.

The two inches or so of snow that had fallen overnight was enough to make the roads “interesting.” We were in no hurry to get in a collision with another vehicle or to end up in the ditch, so we took our sweet time. Once we got to Highway 2, the roads were marginally better. I boosted the speed of the van up some, but still kept it under the limit. After about an hour we traded the good road for some more lousy ones, and for the next 35 miles I stayed at least ten mph under the 55 mph limit. It made the trip last longer, but we arrived at our destination safely.

When we got there, the girls went to see the baby while I began plotting our entertainment – geocaching. After about 10 minutes, my wife brought the girls back out. Then she went back to visit and spoil the baby, while the rest of us went geocaching. Our first geocache was only about 700 feet from the hospital. I got out of the van and started handing out snowpants, hats and gloves for everyone to keep warm and dry in the -14 degree weather (counting the windchill). Everyone was finally dressed and ready in about ten minutes and then (surprise!) Alivia says, “I gotta go potty.” “What!” I exclaimed, with the irritation in my voice quite clear. She saw that I was not happy and tried to change her tune, but I knew it would be worse if there was an accident and we had to stay in the van the whole time. I called everyone back to the van and headed off in search of a gas station. Since I spent some time in college in that town, thankfully I had some idea of where to go (pun intended). After the potty break was taken care of, I had to re-plot our geocaching expedition, since we were now on the opposite side of town.

After some looking at the options, we headed out in search of our first geocache – a nano at a nearby park. The kids took off in the wrong direction. I searched the sign and, for some reason, still didn’t see it. My nephew Mike came back and spotted it, claiming the first find of the month for us. I took a picture and loaded everyone back in the van for our next destination – another park.

If I would have parked in the right spot, this geocache wouldn’t have taken nearly as long as it did, and if I would have checked my coordinates a little closer we wouldn’t have walked in the wrong direction initially. Finally, after trudging through the snow and in some instances walking on top of all the snow, Nikolai found the geocache nestled in a big pine tree branch. We started the long trek back and found a snowmobile track that allowed for easier walking, or in Abigail’s case, crawling – don’t ask, it’s just Abigail. As she said, “I know who I am, and I like who I am.”

The next stop was a trail along the river. We walked and walked across the partially frozen snow, sometimes in knee deep snow. The wind coming off the river had a sharp bite to it. Eventually we got on a trail in the woods and the wind didn’t hit as hard. At first I wasn’t going to look for this cache, since it hadn’t been found since September and I figured it would be buried in the snow, but I forgot to check that detail until we were already trekking across the park – so we continued onward. We arrived around the spot where ground zero was supposed to be, and with a little back-tracking and traipsing over fallen trees and branches, the kids started digging around (while I stayed on the trail), Mike again got the find. It took a hard kick to the ammo can to break it free from the frozen tundra. I headed back toward the van with Alivia, since the snow was a little too deep for her; she got some in her boot and her foot was getting cold.

Once everyone was back in the vehicle and ready to go, we headed for one more stop, but that one eluded the kids. The little picnic area it was hiding in was full of snow, so it will have to wait for another time.

As I was debating our next stop, my wife called. It was time to for the boys to go see the baby, and then to get back on the road. The trip home was much better, and the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing at home.

Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for school buses on the roads; they are carrying a precious cargo – our children. Also please exercise caution when venturing out on the lakes. Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe weekend. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.