"You are SO lucky you are married to me," said I to my husband no less that 60 times yesterday.
He readily agreed.
Some husbands got sexy, toned and spray tanned. This husband got punctual, efficient and organized and he wouldn't trade those qualities for arm candy any day.
Those qualities were manifest in their fullest yesterday. You see, this isn't your mother's road trip. Remember those road trips of our youth? The ones where you rode backwards in the station wagon the entire day and with every left turn your dad made you had to strong arm the precarious tower of hard shelled suitcases stacked next to you to keep them from falling on you, and you would sit that way for 12 hours a day suffocating from the heat as the entire air circulation of the car was dependent on the three ac vents in the front seat - one positioned on your father, the other blowing on your mother and the third one in the middle pointed up therefore covering the ambiguious "everyone". On the lucky days there would be a box of Wheat Thins and squeeze cheese that would be passed around. Bt the only comfort you would have would be your Walkman that always seemd to have only one working earphone (unless you jiggled the wire just right) that you would cling to hoping your batteries wouldn't give out as you would play, rewind, and play again Debbie Gibson's, "Lost in your Eyes".
At least you thought it would be 12 hours of driving - it always turned into more like 15 or 16 because your dad never made hotel reservations because he didn't want to be committed to stopping in case we were on pace to travel further that day. We never were. So we were resigned to clinging to our Holiday Inn hotel directory as we traveled from town to neighboring town in the wee hours of the night hoping for vacancy.
Yes, classic nightmares memories from my youth burned into my brain.
My kids, just for a full and balanced life experience, will need to have a road trip like that sometime - just not this time.
All that I have been denied by having a large boat as my daily driver (namely not fitting under the maximum height bar of Chick Fila drive thru) has been compensated for in spades after a 17 hour day of driving in the big beastly van.
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| on a mission to fulfill Alan's bucket list to visit every Cabela's in the US |
Ultra-stuffed captain's chair and 32" high def tv with surround sound make a great foundation to any trip. But my over thinking, OCD, type A personality made the rest a traveler's dream. The overhead cabinetry was full of yummy snacks, new dvd's of seasons of Dukes of Hazzard, Cosby Show and all the other great shows of the 80's. There was a cabinet devoted to medical needs - vomit bag, Tylenol, spare g-tube and such. A cabinet had our travel dishware for our fine dining experience of ham and cheese sandwiches delivered to everyone on their tray. The thought of "fast-fooding" it across country makes me nauseous so we had our plug-in fridge that doubled as a very convenient armrest for Alan and I that we had filled with fresh fixin's and cold beverages available to us whenever we fancied. All of the kids had a yummy new squishy pillow on their seat for their travel comfort. We had dual trash cans mounted, a roll of paper towels hung and plenty of room to move - because everyone was limited to one small duffel for all of their clothes, shoes and other personal belongings which fit in the box on the hitch carrier mounted on back. We leave that locked and every night just bring a single, small communal "night bag" for the hotel that holds pj's, a toothbrush and a change of clothes for everyone. Even Ty had his new travel accessories including a new bone to keep him occupied. The finishing touch was suggested by Lance, which was some sort of privacy screen. If Bridger catches even a glimpse of you playing any form of electronics he will pitch a fit and demand them. So just before we left home the girls and I whipped up our homemade privacy screens made from some appropriate road trip fabric we found. Of all of the travel comforts, Alan said those privacy screens were his favorite and worth their weight in gold.
Ahhh, yes. THIS is the way to road trip. We pushed it a hard 17 hours yesterday and have no major meltdowns to report. Which means, according to statistics, that we are almost certain to have double meltdowns today. Bring it, I say. I have 3 cabinets still left untouched ready for the worst.