No post yesterday because I spent all day trying to figure out our plans for the next leg of this travelpalooza. And also eating cake. Karen, you asked WHAT KIND of cake? It’s my mom’s famous Rocky Road Sheet Cake although technically it isn’t rocky road because years ago, at our request, she started leaving out the marshmallows. It’s an incredibly moist and rich made-from-scratch sheet cake with a semisweet fudge frosting studded with pecans. You just can’t believe how good this cake is. I will be riding the sugar-high all the way to New Mexico.

So. The movers threw a wrinkle into our plans. The truck was supposed to reach San Diego, oh, about now. Scott is waiting on the other end to meet it, and then the plan was for him to fly out here to Denver and make the rest of the trip with us. But now the truck isn’t arriving until next Monday. Which means he loses the weekend for traveling. Argh.

But not to worry. We have a new plan. He’s meeting us in Phoenix instead. See, we all really want to make the last bit of the drive together, the entry into California, the first glimpse of the Pacific. (For the kids and me, it really is our first glimpse. I’ve never been west of this great state of Colorado.)

So I’ll leave Sunday and head south. Scott will meet the truck on Monday and grab a cheap one-way flight to Phoenix early Wednesday morning. (Knowing how inevitably the best-laid plans of mice and moms gang agley, we are allowing for a cushion day on Tuesday, just in case.)

In the meantime, the kids and I are thoroughly enjoying our respite at Grandma & Grandpa’s house. The food, my word, the food! When my sister came for dinner the other night, she surveyed the feast my mother had prepared and remarked that she had just mentioned to her husband that she was in the mood for a Thanksgiving-like spread. Which is what we’ve had, every night. Just yum.

My dad has taught Wonderboy how to go down the slide head-first. Which explains why the kid is walking around with leaves plastered to his forehead. Awesome.

On Wednesday the kids and I zipped across town for a lovely lunch visit with some 4 Real Learning friends. Mary, Mary, and Gwen, it was a joy to meet you all in person. We realized that between us, almost half of last year’s impromptu Journey North group was present!

Yesterday was, as I said, devoted to trip planning and also the dreaded van-cleaning-out. Which actually wasn’t too bad. I had to figure out how to clear space in the passenger seat for me to, you know, SIT in after Scott joins us. And then my mom took Jane and me shopping. Shopping! In an actual store! Where you see items in real life and put them in a shopping basket and then stand in line where an actual human person rings you up! No mouse-clicking of any kind! I could hardly remember how the whole system worked. Fortunately my mother was there to gently nudge me to the right side of the conveyor belt. ("No, dear, that’s a cash register, not a computer, and you mustn’t push the buttons.")

And she bought me some really cool shoes.