You Know It's a Long Road Trip When........

You know it's a long road trip when......

1. You don’t even time the stops when stopping for gas or food. You know that if the stop takes 6.25 minutes or 9.5 minutes, it really doesn’t matter.

2. You time the trip in states, tanks of gas, and days instead of miles and hours.

3. The idea of chartering a small cargo plane to take you, your car and stuff, and family sounds like a reasonable expense. This should really be #1.

4. You’re thankful that an 8-yr old dog who sleeps 98% of the trip is easier than a 2-yr old baby in a car seat........and you're envious of her space because she can actually stretch out and sleep during the trip.

5. You're grateful when a segment of the trip involves a timezone change. That way, you can pretend you're only in the car for 10 hours instead of 11.

6. There are so many bugs on the windshield that your camera focuses more on them than the passing scenery.

The boxes are still stacked throughout the house, but we're making slow progress. The social worker is coming Friday to see about our updating our Home Study. We remain somewhat optimistic and hope we don't have to redo the entire Home Study.

Long Road Trip......Make That Super-Long Road Trip

2,750 miles. That's the distance between Chesapeake VA to Chula Vista CA.
Five and a half days. That's the time we originally planned to tour America's heartland from VA to CA. Emphasis on "originally."

So how does one pack a wooden ship model into a car already crammed full of stuff? Very carefully. I'm grateful for our large cargo carrier on our roof rack.



Here's Chloe's expression from the back of the car - priceless. What makes this even more priceless is we're only an hour into a three and a half day drive! We have one day left on our journey, and we can't complain. This is the second cross-country drive we have survived with both of us in the car. We know we're very lucky, and the next tour of America's byways won't be this simple. Chloe (our 8-yr old dog) sleeps about 98% of the time, and we're pretty sure that a 2-yr old baby in a car seat will demand slightly more attention during a 2,700 mile trek in the car.

The good news is the driver of the moving company truck (actually an 18-wheeler) is a very nice gentleman and said we would be the first load off the truck in CA. The bad news is he will be at our new home on Friday or Saturday......not later the following week that we originally thought. Emphasis on "originally." I had planned a 5.5 day drive across country - allowing daylight driving and letting us get settled at the hotel at the end of each day before dinnertime. Trimming two days off a 2,700-mile-plus trip to make it in 3.5 days removes any sense of "leisure" from our journey.

Here's Chloe enjoying low windows from the hotel in Memphis, TN.



Alicia and Chloe relaxing after a long day on the road.

Next stop.....San Diego!