My nearly 12-year-old car has been doing a great job. It got me to Detroit, got elsaf and I to Chicago, and yesterday, got Elsa, judiang and I back to Detroit. Elsa & I split the driving – I do the boring long stretches (hey, I’m a rural girl, I’m used to long, boring drives) and Elsa did the city driving in Chicago & Detroit. Works for me! 🙂

Yesterday, we had the last of the cheesecake for breakfast (that’s a wonderful breakfast, BTW) and then successfully packed up the car. We got on the road at exactly noon EST. Elsa successfully got us through the backed up city traffic and I took over when we got to Michigan. Lunch was at Culvers (Elsa & Judi’s first time there). Their pork tenderloin sammich is pretty good. And I love their vanilla ice cream.

We arrived at Elsa’s place not long after 6pm. We unloaded the car, then got into Elsa’s car for the drive to her brother’s house. Tom and his g/f Ardath were dog-sitting for Elsa. Judi and I got a real surprise when we got there. Ardi had given us some really cool Christmas presents! Yay! Neat holiday decorations and (for me) a cat cartoon day calendar.

Since we hadn’t had supper yet, we girls (Ardi joined us) went to La Shish for kabobs et al. They had bread & a garlic dip that was wonderful. I ordered garlic & almond rice with lamb. Very tasty, but I had filled up on bread, so I had a lot of leftovers. Yay, lunch today! And once again, Ardi gave us a surprise gift – she bought our supper! (I’m becoming quite the freeloader – the only meal I’ve bought on this trip was the lunch at Culvers!)

After lunch today, the goal is to head off to Frankemuth, MI. We’re going to shop in the German village (and Christmas store) and have a nice German meal. To make up for my freeloading, I’ve promised to buy supper. Mmmmm, saurkraut!

PS – new icon! ‘Tis one of my poems.