Grandma Merlin's 75th birthday celebration was to take place July 1st, 2004, in Oconomowoc, WI. It's 2000 miles to Wisconsin, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. Maddy and Brock were looking forward to meeting all their cousins and showing off their little brother Dane.

This is the second road trip to Wisconsin for Brock, Maddy and Cuzco. It coincided with the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark's Trail of Discovery. In that spirit, we had our own momentous occasion where Dane first crawled. This happened in a Billings, Montana hotel room on the drive out to Wisconsin. Maddy had a rough time with the drives through Montana. She got carsick on the way east in Butte and heading back west just before Billings.