Road Trip

So I guess I should start at the beginning, a very good place to start. We left early on a Wednesday morning. It took literally all day Tuesday to get everything gathered and packed. We bought a car top carrier which I am grateful we had since it made the van much more comfortable. I did not take a single picture of our trip. We were too busy driving and mapping out the next best place to stop for a break. We stopped at rest stops to eat picnic lunches. It was perfect. The kids had a break from the car and could run around. Sam was in heaven. He quickly learned that there were often dogs or babies (two of his favorite things) at the rest stops. If there was a dog, we could not keep him away from it. He would not eat until he had been over to visit the "woo woo." (According to Sam, that is what a dog says.) It was a little frustrating, but mostly cute. It did not matter how hard we tried, by the time we were done stretching our legs, eating lunch and taking multiple trips to the bathroom, we never managed to get back on the road in under an hour. When you are driving for 7+ hours a day, any delay feels huge. But we came to expect it and deal with it.

Back to Wednesday, we made it our super long day and got all the way to Kansas. After 11 hours of driving, we were exhausted and very grateful for the DVD player in the van. We made it in time to swim at the hotel and then drop into bed. The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and hit the road. By the time we had the car top carrier loaded and all of us in and ready it was much later than we wanted to be. That day, the miles seemed to crawl by. We didn't make our final destination until after 10 pm. It was the worst day of traveling. I made the executive decision to put the car top carrier in the stow n go and just cram everything in the back. It saved tons of time in the morning. (And for the return trip we packed smarter so that we did not have to get into the car top on hotel nights. I feel pretty dumb that I did not think of that on the trip out, but live and learn right?) Day three was better. We got a better start, but it was still a long 8 hour day. Our goal was to make it to the hotel with time to relax and swim. Our hotel was in Knoxville where two interstates merged. Needless to say, we joined I-40 about 30 miles down the road from our hotel. By the time we realized our mistake we were DONE with driving. We got a room at a different hotel. In the end, we were able to cancel our previous reservation. We did get to swim and relax a bit before bed. That alone was worth the possibility of paying for a room we did not use. Day four seemed to drag! We thought we would never make it. We were out of picnic stuff so we stopped at a Wendy's for lunch. That was when I realized what a great idea the rest stop picnics had been. The kids were literally crawling on the floor and dancing on the chairs. They were so tired of being cooped up in the van. I took Sam and Brook into the bathroom and by the time we were done both of them were crying so loudly, Laura could hear them in the dining room. I was embarrassed, but mostly I wanted to sit down and cry with them. We did eventually make it and Grandma was waiting for us with real food and a comfy house where the kids could run around and make as much noise as they needed.

I am grateful for the safe trip we had, no major incidents or trouble. Laura and I kept each other laughing and sane. I will always remember driving over bridges, looking at maps, finding Sam's pacies, playing the alphabet game, weird billboards in Kansas, and lots of good girl talk. And we still like each other and would do it again. Love you, Laura!