Friday morning June 2 around 7a CDT. We have finished packing the trailer and the truck, we have walked the dogs and we are getting ready to start the adventure to Mexico as well as for Matt who is going to purchase a new home back in Minneapolis. 
So around 7:30 we crank up the truck and start the journey which today will take us down to Minneapolis. This is the shortest part of our journey as it will only take us 5 hours or so and the remainder of the trip will be averaging between 11 and 12 hours a day driving. One of the reasons that we took the short trip on the first day is to make sure that the trailer is packed properly and that we don’t have any movement or other problems with the stuff we have packed in the trailer.
We arrive in Minneapolis around 1p and Matt’s closing is not until 2, but it is very hot and humid in Minneapolis. We do find a good parking spot in a fairly shaded area so the dogs and Keesha will be protected and we go in to Don Pablo’s for our last Mexican meal in Minnesota. Well it was bland and not at all authentic, but it fills the hunger and Matt is off to his closing. My sister, Julie, and her youngest daughter, Alexa, also come over to say good bye to me. It was a very nice visit and I am glad to be able to say good bye as who knows when I will be coming back to Minneapolis in the future.
After Matt completes his purchase we go over to his new home, it is a wonderful house in a extremely nice neighborhood that is close to shops, the lakes and the theaters. 
That evening Matt’s brother throws a welcome back to Minneapolis party for Matt and we all sit on the steps outside the house drinking wine and eating BBQ as there is no furniture in the house and it is still so damn hot. Early the next morning we load up the truck and start the second day of the adventure. So far we have gone around 250 miles and today our goal is to progress from Minneapolis to Wichita Kansas, which is around 500 miles or so.
After bidding farewell to Minneapolis, we are tooling down I35 with Matt driving the first leg, actually I did not want to try to navigate the city streets of Minneapolis and I had not had my morning cup of coffee, so Matt was the pilot. 
Driving down I35 we see the rolling hills of Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, everything is very green, but the temperatures are still very hot, so we do not stay anywhere long as we do not want to leave the dogs and Keesha a lone in the truck. 
We do stop in northern Iowa and while I am checking on the truck and the trailer, oh and of course giving Keesha some food, Matt is out trying to walk the dogs. As I see him walking back to me, I have to ask “who is walking whom?” 
We do pass by Des Moines where I went to college and I am amazed at how the city has grown. Like all of the medium and large towns in the US, it seems that they have all expanded significantly over the past 25 years. I am also reminded of our friends the Fifos who live near us in Ely, but use to live in Des Moines. It is Frank who build the trailer and the doggy sleeping car for us, and I wanted to say thank you to him and Retta for their friendship and help.
So around 6p we pull into the Holiday Inn Express in Wichita. It is hot and humid (have I already said that several times?) so we check in to the hotel and then take the dogs for a walk. While we are going to a local convenience store we see some of Wichita’s finish busting some people. I am not sure what was the cause of the confrontation but clearly something is wrong as there are two police cars and a third showed up shortly thereafter. Well I am glad that is not me as it sure would ruin your Saturday evening. 
As you can see the trip has been fairly uneventful so far (thankfully) and we are on schedule and have not had any problems. Please continue to read on for the trip update for day three and four. Also if you want to skip ahead and look at the remaining photos, please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanmiguelphotos/sets/72157594161715579/ 
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