Yesterday we took off to visit Matt and Carrie at Carrie's parents place next to Kenyon in southern Ohio. On the way there- what traffic could there be- it's Sunday- Well we made it through Chicago- which is always the worst!- and hit lake effect snow in Indiana- it was the worst I have ever seen- 1 to 2 inches per hour of thick white snow- our second snow (counting Red Wing, MN). Mark did a wonderful job driving through the storm for an hour- the longest hour I have ever had. Our fortune was a wonderful semi braving the way through the storm- Mark got right behind this truck and got us through the storm- right before it let up, the worst part of the storm, there were semis and cars in the ditch all around us. In the middle of it we called Matt J and told him we might be a little later than expected- amazingly he told us that we were almost our of the storm after he checked the internet. Love the internet! That was the encouragement that we needed to keep going- Thanks Matt!

After a bit of trouble going up a steep icy hill, we arrived, chatted and caught up- then we broke out a new game Once Upon a Time, Mark just got it for me (early Christmas present- his was a framable Harry Potter calender with artistic renderings of some key scenes). When we travel for long trips, somewhere along the way we start making up stories- my best was one about a traveling love-struck goat heading across England for his true love- rather Disney-like. Everyone had a great time with the creative aspect once we got into it. The last one was about a king sailing to find a cure for his afflicted populace...

Unfortunately our car would not start this morning so we all piled into Matt Lavine's little car and visited Kenyon. Lavine had good fortune and P.F. Kluge signed the Kenyon history Alma Mater. After eating at the earthy local Common Grounds, we toured around the campus and everyone shared their Kenyon stories. Once we got back to Carrie's parents place, we put heet in the fuel tank of our car- and it started very quickly! On the way to WV we stopped at Rosco Village. Mark and I drove through this village when we went to his Kenyon reunion last year- but didn't have enough time to visit. This time we got a quick visit of a soap, pottery and cheesery shop. We picked up some wonderful spreadable garlic and cracked pepper spreadable cheese- a nice treat to share with Cookie and Doug!