We never did stop in Marshalltown, IA, despite the offer of a free place to crash and a game of Scotland Yard against Flavia the Swiss foreign exchange student, opting instead to spend Wednesday evening curled up on the soft comfy couches at Ben and Julia’s cuddling their beagles and chatting with Ben (as Jules was out of town for work).

It was relaxing, but there were silly moments, and it’s good to have friends you share in-jokes with, and who can invite themselves into your home, just as you invited yourself into theirs.

(Speaking of the beagles, Molly and Daisy are cuter than I ever imagined, and while they completely suck at coming when called, they do get in their kennel when told, so it’s all good. I did note, however, that calling “Beagles!” worked better than either name.)

In any case, we left Minneapolis around 10 yesterday morning, stopped at Caribou Coffee, and then finally crashed for the night at a faded but functional Ramada in Oklahoma City. We’re so close to home we can taste it, but it was late, and we were tired and crabby, and we’re about to go eat free food.

The plan is to retrieve the dogs from the vet, and then go home and sleep for a long long long long time.

ATTN: CARYNSILVER: Have fallen in love with the game “Valley of the Pharoahs” do you know it?