Cross country road trip is underway.
Me and my kids minus Bridger.
These kids know how to roll.
10-14 hours per day on the road has been absolute bliss. Quietest three days I have had in the past 8 years.
They read. They watch out the window. We have listened to hours of talks on cd. I have taken advantage of the captive audience behind me and have had some wonderful discussions about life.
We make our token stop at Cabela's in West Virginia to load up on their delicious fudge to nurse along our long drive.
We roll into the hotel and crash. There isn't the insane setting up of a special needs travel bed or the hours it takes for their special brother to decompress from the stimulation of the travel. We roll in, brush our teeth, and fall instantly to sleep.
On the road we don't have to stop at every Wal-Mart across the interstate (as we did in our previous trip) to appease the hours of screaming from Bridger who is obsessed with Wal-Mart. We only stop twice for gas during each 13 hour leg on the road - and hopefully that times itself with each child's need for the restroom. Tough beans if not. Lunch is assembled on the road, courtesy of Chef Sadie, who passes the trays along.
The first night we had a picnic dinner at a quaint little table for four outside of Sheetz gas station. Every was just grateful to be able to eat outside of the car for a change.
Our second night I surprised them with a dinner at the famous Brookville Hotel in Abilene Kansas. Delicious fried chicken dinner and all of the fixin's served up family style in a dining room with the most ornate wallpaper you have ever seen.
Across the Midwest you see a lot of semi-trucks with their beds loaded with the most interesting equipment. We play a game every time we pass one called "What do you think THAT is for?" and every one tries to come up with their most creative guess as to what the obscure hunk of metal atop the semi bed is used for. That is how we pass those otherwise long hours across Indiana and Kansas.
The last day of our leg is when the trip really starts getting good -- because that is when the amazing scenery picks up. Not that we didn't love the scenery of Kansas. But here are the comparisons - you be the judge. . .
Within a few hours of our destination I found a little roadside gem - a ginormous completely accessible playground. It made us all miss Bridger and wish he was with us. All of the kids ran every single stiff joint back into full range of motion and jumped back into our van for the final few hours of driving.
We landed safe and sound at our first destination, where we dropped Lance off for a week of Boy Scout camp and the girls and I continued on the road to begin our mother/daughter road trip.
Most wouldn't think traveling solo with four children 13 and under would be listed as a cake walk. But the perspective and experience of the alternative for us can't help but make us label it the easiest three days of our summer so far!
Rolling Onward!