Here we go:
It was a Thursday night. I arrived home after a long, stressful week of work and was incredibly disappointed that I had to go back in the following day (which was supposed to be a day off) to wrap up some unfinished business.
Like clock-work, I ran (literally) directly to the bathroom to relieve my bladder's growing pressure, changed out of my work attire, and went to see what my parents were up to. I found my dad sitting in the office, staring at our desktop computer, and working on the top-secret event (which will be referred to as a "project" from here on out) which, over the past few months, we had only discussed briefly.
He spent the next hour explaining what he was doing and how he thought he had made headway with the project earlier in the day, but after a discussion with his brother/partner-in-crime (don't worry, not actual crime), realized he had made a small (but very important) mistake in the work he had done thus far. It was very obvious that my dad was disappointed and incredibly frustrated.
The next morning I was not-so-pleasantly surprised when I was woken up at 8 AM by my dad--it was a Friday, and he typically starts work at 7 AM, so it was odd that he was home.
"Andi, wake up! Come here, I've got to show you something!" he said as he swung open my bedroom door. I tried not to let him see the annoyance I felt (yes, I was going into work, but I still wanted to sleep in on my "day off"!) as I drug myself out of bed and back into the office where he sat, again, staring at the computer.
"Look at this," he said as he pointed to the computer screen, "What do you see?" I stared at the screen for a few seconds and answered him. Instantly, his face lit up and he smiled--I gave him the answer he was hoping for. He considered my response confirmation that he wasn't crazy or seeing things and called his brother to explain his newest development. I stayed in the office for a while as they spoke on the phone, and, as the excitement and giddiness of my father grew, so did my interest in the project.
After a while, I headed into our sun room to get my weekly Today Show fix. Meanwhile, my dad could not sit still; he paced our house and our yard for almost four hours while talking off and on to himself, to me, and to his brother. After contemplating calling the loony bin for a good twenty seconds (okay, probably only three...he's not really crazy), I convinced him to sit down and relax for a bit. This lasted very, very briefly. After another short phone call, he had made up his mind, he was going to Montana.
Montana!
Montana is a good fourteen hour drive from our house, and yes, my dad was going to drive there, non-stop, by himself. The thought of him driving all the way there alone frightened me, but there wasn't much I could do--I couldn't go (I had to work) and there was no way he wasn't going. My dad had his things packed in five minutes and was out the door. He headed to my mom's office in Ames, twenty miles away, to trade vehicles (for our more dependable and more fuel-efficient option) and I frantically tried to get ahold of my brother as I was still incredibly worried about my dad making this fourteen-hour-journey on his own.
Five minutes later (which felt like forever), my brother returned my call. You could imagine how strange the conversation was:
Me: "Hi Dane, what are you doing?"
Dane: "Heading to Des Moines, why?"
Me: "Do you want to go to Montana with Dad?"
Dane: "What? Why?"
Me: "I don't have time to explain right now, but can you go?"
Dane: "Uh...when?"
Me: "Right now."
Dane: "No really, Andi, what do you need?"
Me: "No really, Dad just left. He is going to Montana. Can you go!?"
Subsequently, Dane called my dad and was told the same thing that I tried telling him, and, what do you know, Dane turned around and headed to Ames to pack his things and meet my dad. Whew. I was instantly relieved by this news. Finally, I got out of my pajamas, threw on some clothes and headed to work.
During my drive into work, I started feeling left out of all the excitement. As I said earlier, I had listened to my dad ramble all day long about this project, and I wanted to see it through. My dad is very, very, very laid back and it is not common at all for my dad to get worked up about anything, so it was fun to see him like this--really, really excited about something; I decided I didn't want to hear about this adventure second-hand. So, what did I do?
I called up my boss, asked for Monday off, got it approved, and instead of heading into work, drove to a random parking lot to meet up with my dad and brother. All I had packed were the clothes on my back (and I hadn't even showered for the day).
Once I got there, we decided to take my car (since it was the roomiest option), filled up my tank, and by 2:00 PM, we were headed to Montana. Initially I started driving, but my dad was so anxious and excited that he couldn't sit still in the passenger seat. So, two minutes into the trip I pulled over and let him take over.
Obviously, the first hour (of fourteen) was spent explaining to Dane the urgency of this road trip. Our second hour was spent deciding what to tell our significant others; I had already told Trent where I was going, but he had no idea why I was going. Dane hadn't told his girlfriend either of these things, so we spent another hour pondering any potential consequences, and he eventually called her to explain where he was headed.
We all took our turns driving, but I can say with 99% certainty, that I drove the majority of the trip, straight on through the night--I didn't sleep a wink, and the most my dad and brother slept was an hour or two. We arrived in Montana around 5 AM the next morning and met my Uncle Mike (my dad's brother), who lives in Texas and flew in the night before (luckily his daughter works at an airline and could get him a cheap ticket).
I sprawled out in the car and, FINALLY, was able to take a little nap. I was awoken 45 minutes later by my dad, brother, and uncle who were ready to get started on the project.
Within the first five minutes of our work on the project, we all knew it wasn't going to be a successful day. Still, though, we continued to work on it for the next several hours before calling it quits and hitting up a tiny, small town bar.
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| This is the outfit I had on as I drove into Ames (for work) the day before (don't judge). This is also the outfit I wore until Monday. Ew. |
We sipped, talked, ate tons of peanuts, and eventually drove my uncle to the airport and started our fourteen hour journey back home. Kill. Me. Now.
The ride home was 100% less enjoyable than the ride there (like all drives home are, but times ten). We were tired, cranky, disappointed, and FREAKING tired. By the end of the trip, I couldn't stand straight, definitely couldn't see straight, and had told my dad and brother (multiple times) that I would never go on another road trip with them again. It was the Tired talking, I promise.
I was back in Colo, IA and in bed by 8 AM Monday morning, slept the entire day, and went to work the next day like nothing had ever happened.
The end.
**Epilogue**
The very next weekend, my dad went back to Montana. He flew that time. Thank god.
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