Trip to Minnesota

The kids and I are back from a weekend-long trip to Virginia, Minnesota. We visited Jon, who has been working seven days a week while his crew finishes a nearby power line. He hasn't been able to come home for a few weeks, and is still at least two more weeks away from time off, so we thought we'd pay him a visit.

At left: even the motel's highchair had a rustic look!

I picked the kids up from school on Friday, and we had good weather until we got as far as Rice Lake. Then we ran into snow and increasingly sloppy roads. It was slow-going, but we made it to our motel safely-- at about 8:00 that night. Jon met us in the parking lot, and we checked into our room together.

At right: Emma in front of the stone fireplace in the lobby. Notice the interesting drift wood clock and rustic coffee table.

The motel we stayed at was nice-- we wanted it to feel somewhat like a vacation for the kids. The lobby had a lodge ambience, with tall ceilings and exposed rafters draped with an interesting variety of large stuffed teddy bears. There were quilts hung on the second story walls. We thought the kids' two Grandmas would have appreciated these aspects of the decor.

We splurged and got a corner suite, just above the swimming pool. There was a sleeping area and then an adjacent sitting room, separated by French doors (this worked out well for giving Leila a quiet nap area while the older kids did their thing in the next room).

Jon enjoyed seeing Leila crawl on the floor-- she had just started crawling last time he was home, but only just... and she's quite a bit faster and way better at it now.

He had to leave for work early Saturday morning, so the kids and I entertained ourselves at the motel as best we could. We swam in the pool (I bought Leila swim diapers and her first suit), ate at a couple of local restaurants, and toured a nearby museum. Jon had thought maybe he'd be done with work in time to eat supper with us that night, but it didn't work out that way... he got back to the motel after dark and was up with us maybe an hour before exhaustion kicked in. We all went to bed.

We said our goodbyes to him early Sunday morning; he left at about 5:30 am.

It was kind of disappointing that we didn't get to see more of him on the trip. I had hoped to see his work area and maybe see the place where he's been staying, but there just wasn't time for any of that.

I do have a few pictures to post of the kind of work his crew does. These are pictures that came to us just this weekend. They were taken by the wife of the guy Jon used to work for. I wrote about Wade last year-- he was the young foreman who died suddenly in a car accident.

When you see the pictures you can understand why this type of work pays better than many other types of work. It takes physical fitness and is not without risk. Jon is relatively safe in that he generally operates heavy equipment, like this crane. But that's a big responsibility, too-- imagine operating a crane that carries people in a small bucket, while they work at tree-top level.

After spending the weekend in a motel, the kids and I were glad to get home to our familiar beds and all the little projects we busy ourselves with around here.

Time for a heroic-looking picture of Jon (prepare for sentiment):

I definitely have a renewed appreciation for the sacrifices Jon is making right now. It can't be easy for him to live out of a duffel bag and eat sandwiches everyday. It must drive him nuts to spend the end of his day in a little rented room when he has a house and family a few hundred miles away.

He has a garage full of tools and a Bobcat parked in the driveway. He would love to chop wood or even just rake out the flower beds, now that the snow's melting.

He would love to tuck his children into bed every night. But instead I hold the phone up to Leila's little face while he talks (then pull the phone away quickly, before she gnaws and slobbers all over it).

We love and miss him. But he thinks these extreme hours will be over soon. They should be done with their current job in two week's time. The next job will also be in Minnesota, but about an hour closer to Eau Claire. Also, it should only be a five day a week job, so he expects to have lots of weekends off this summer.