Road Tales Day Three

Or, Looking for Love's in All the Wrong Places

I don't want to admit that road trippin' might not be as fun as it sounded before we began, but this day was a challenge. To be honest, I think all my problems came from being under prepared and inattentive. Also, I must acknowledge that this third and final leg of our journey gave me the opportunity to participate in my favorite part of road trippin', the night drive. We finally pulled into our destination (target arrival window: 6-8 pm) at 10:45pm, well after dark.

Today's misadventure serves as my reminder that when you realize you got up on the wrong side of the bed, sometimes the best thing to do is go back to bed and start over. If only I could have done that today.

Between fatigue and a Wal-Mart visit, we started an hour later than I wanted. One hour into the drive, I had to make an unscheduled stop for gasoline. Oops. This woke Lulu at an awkward time, which triggered a snowball effect that reverberated throughout the rest of the day, as we struggled to get baby, snacks, gasoline, exercise and potty breaks in sync with rest area and truck stop locations.

Cuss.

At one point I pulled off the road hoping to give the screaming baby a bottle. I could not find a place to park at the exit I had chosen, so I returned to the highway and continued my search while Miss Lulu exercised her right to cry if she wants to.

Double cuss.

A few miles later I saw signs for hotels, and exited the highway again. Unfortunately, this time I exited one mile too soon, and instead found myself on another highway crossing through the mountains of Kentucky, from which there was NO EXIT for TEN MILES.

Cuss cuss cuss!

Twenty minutes later I was back at MY highway, taking the NEXT exit, and pulling into a hotel parking lot. Two hours into the drive, three stops, one heck of a detour, and a fit of fury with myself, this was the moment at which I realized Rooster had dropped a shoe back at Wal-Mart.

Cuss cuss cuss cuss CUSS!!!

Have you ever tried to send a text message when you are speechless? I flung a text at the Captain, hoping he could throw me a thread of sanity to which to cling, and about all I could do was use a lot of *** as descriptive adjectives. He sent me the comforting response: “You r just a ball of anger!!! :)” Not the thread I was hoping for. But a needed reality check to help me simmer down.

What? Me, scream? No one will believe you!

My mom drove for the next hour while I tried to piece myself back together with the orderly numbers grid of Sudoku. The day continued disjointed until late afternoon, with 7 stops in the first 6 hours. Once was for the sole purpose of chastising the kids for dumping half a bag of M&Ms on the floor of the car. Which they could only have reached by not wearing a seat belt.

Has anyone seen my serenity? I think it got broken today. Fortunately I have time before the return voyage, to regroup and rethink my strategy for traveling with an infant.

For now, tomorrow is the first day of BEING on vacation. I think we are going to a farm. I may just check the kids in, and come back to get them in a week when I have recovered.

I promise, road trips are fun. But today? Today was just one of those days. I am glad to be at my destination.

All's well that ends well