After the loss Dave had "exit physicals" on Monday and by Tuesday he said "I'm bored." Some how, some way he devised a plan to take a road trip across America. He ran up to me on Tuesday and said "Babe...let's road trip across America and surprise our families...and do all sorts of fun stuff!" At first I wasn't sure if he was just delirious from all the pressure of the post-season, but sure enough he was serious as a heart attack. So, we took the next week or so to prepare for our road trip, start lying to our families (since we wanted to surprise them), and gather everything we needed for "x" amount of days on the road.
We got a lid for the back of Dave's truck and packed everything we were taking in the back. We put the seats down in the back of Dave's truck and that was Oso's 'luxury suite." Our first stop was Cleveland, OH to visit Dave's brother and family. We had a great time with them. We also got our teeth cleaned at Ben's dental office. He had the pleasure of telling me I had 5 cavities!!! WHAT?? I had never had cavities...oh well, guess I'm just getting old. After Cleveland we made it to Davenport, IA and stayed the night. The next day we drove into Seward, NE where my sister is attending Concordia University. We played it sneaky and got another girl in her dorm to unlock the front door to her dorm to let us in. Then we ran down my sister's hall and luckily the door to her room was unlocked. We blasted through the door and just about gave my sister a heart attack. She was so surprised to see us! Her and her boyfriend had lots of homework to do that night, so we just took them out to dinner then headed on down the road to Kearny, NE.
The next day we left Kearny and headed for Colorado Springs. When we made it into COS, we went straight to my mom's school where she is a secretary. Before we went in I called her and said, "Mom?...Are you at school?" She said "Yes." I said 'Dave and I were watching the national news and it said something about how the police are trying to catch a fugitive in a town at the base of Pikes Peak (where her school is located). Are you OK??? Is your school on lockdown or anything?" She said 'No....we are fine...nothing going on here." Then I said "Are you sure there isn't a crazy man running around your school??" Then at that moment Dave and his mammoth of a beard busted through the school doors to surprise my mom! She just let out a big scream and gave us a big hug.
After we surprised my mom we went to my Dad's office and surprised him. He was very schock, but happy to see us. Dave and I were able to spend a few days in COS catching up with family and just relaxing. After COS we decided to drive to Steamboat, CO which is about 3hrs away from my house in COS and go snowmobiling. We left our child "Oso" with my parents while we went up there. We stayed in The Grand Hotel in Steamboat and went snowmobiling on some of the most beautiful snow and land I have ever seen. It was definitely an AWESOME getaway for both Dave and I!
After Steamboat we drove back down to COS to pick up Oso and the next day we headed even further west to UT. When we arrived to UT we surprised Dave's parents as well. They were very shocked to see us! We stayed about a week in UT caught up with old friend, coaches, and other people. It was amazing to hear how many people were following Dave and his NFL career. People had so many questions for him. We had a good time in UT, but by the end of it we knew we needed to start to head home. During our return trip home, we made it all the way to Lincoln, NE from Ogden, UT. After that we stayed in Indiana then we drove back to Ben's house in Cleveland for some dental work.
We drove just under 6,000 miles round trip during our adventure and were gone about 3.5 weeks. Looking back i still can't believe that we did it...but it was awesome! It was such a good break from a stressful and intense first year in the NFL. I had such a wonderful time just talking with my husband and spending time with our awesome dog Oso. I'm so glad that we acted on Dave's feelings of spontaneity and just went for it! We don't have children right now, so I felt like it was a perfect time to do something like this. It is something neither of us will soon forget.
We are now back in Maryland and Dave is starting to prepare for his off-season. He is starting to work-out again and burn off some of that "road trip pudge ;-)" He will officially start his off-season on March 16th.
I wasn't great at taken pictures this trip, but I did manage to snap a few. I have created a slide show with the pictures I took. ENJOY!
2 comments:
We sure enjoyed haveing you visit, it made my week. And thanks for the boots, They came in handy yesterday as I was stuck in the driveway.
Glad I got to see you guys while you were here on your whirlwind trip! Jake's sad he missed ya.
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