officially home

Ironic it seemed when, after 13,000 miles, the car died 80 miles outside of Minneapolis. Saturday night, St. Patrick's Day, in Kellogg, MN - a very small town. Dark, cold, not a lot of people at the Kwik Trip gas station. But a very nice woman named June put us on the phone with a very nice man named Brennick who drove on over and looked at the car. Turns out he's a very good mechanic and his shop's just down the road. We walked over to the Town & Country Cafe and had some really nice pie while he fixed our car. An hour later we were back on the road and felt like we'd had the perfect Minnesota welcome home.

The next day we visited Bill, the most perfect uncle a dog could ever want, and picked up Future. We rode around looking for apartments with him in the back seat all day. What a happy reunion. He missed us, we could tell.

Actually, I think we've spent three days in a row now, riding around looking at apartments with Future in the back seat. If nothing falls apart, I think we're signing a lease on a perfect little place tomorrow. By the way, to all the fabulous friends out there who hosted us along the way, we'll have a guest room. Speaking of hosts, Annie, one of the nicest people on the whole planet, is hosting us again until we move.

Can I just say that the best part of traveling, and the best part of coming home, is being reminded just how many really damn nice people there are in this world?