Driving Here

First of all, I would just like to say that I would NOT recommend that anyone with small children drive across the country. It was really hard on everyone. I had lots of activities and snacks to keep the kids busy but it was just really hard for them to sit so long. Carter was a gem the whole trip and sat by himself in the back and just entertained himself. Kate had her moments but also did so well for a four-year-old. Every once in a while she would just sigh a huge sigh, poor thing. On paper, the trip did not look too bad but 9 hour drives turned into like 11 hour drives. We had to stop frequently for potty, food, and gas and once we got them out of their car seats, it was hard to get them back in. Poor Eli literally had bruises on the insides of his legs from his carseat. It was hard for me to see all the kids hurting and wished so much that I did not have to do this to them. We would usually get to our destination pretty late at night and with our best intentions to get an early start in the morning - it just wouldn't happen. I'm going to document here the days of our trip just for our record so don't feel obligated to read all the boring details.

Day 1 - Sunday, August 21

After going to sacrament meeting at 9 we went to Mom's house and finished packing the cars and headed out for Cheyanne, WY. We got there at about dinner time and had something to eat and went to bed. This was a nice hotel and there were bunkbeds in the room for Carter and Kate so they were pretty stoked. Eli wasn't too excited about sleeping in the pack and play and I thought, "Here we go." Eli has a tendency to wake up at night and stay awake for hours yelling and rocking himself in his crib especially when he's teething. He got 3 molars while on this trip - yes, I'm serious.

Day 2 - Monday, August 22

The next morning we tried to get an early start but we got distracted by the guy in the breakfast room who was wearing a swimming suit...and cowboy boots. Only in Cheyanne (actually I've been told this could also happen in Louisanna). So, we rolled out of Wyoming and headed toward our next stop which was Omaha, Nebraska. This was supposed to be a less than 7 hour drive but took longer than that. I was starting to see the pattern here - DO NOT PLAN ON MAKING GOOD TIME ON THIS TRIP! sigh

We got there in time to go to Winter Quarters though and that was something we definitely wanted to do. We were surprised at how humid it was in Omaha. I have been there before but had forgotten how humid it gets once you pass Wyoming. We were also surprised at how green it was in Nebraska. The good thing about this drive was that there really was nowhere ugly we drove through. Even Wyoming had some pretty scenery.

After we saw Winter Quarters, the temple, and the pioneer cemetery, we headed to our hotel. It felt kind of scary at the hotel so we just ordered pizza to our room. It was late, again, so we just fed the kids and put them to bed.

Day 3 - Tuesday, August 23

We got up and once again tried to get an early start since this was a long drive day but of course we couldn't get out of there before 10. We took off after stopping to try and buy some healthy food and get gas. I was constantly trying to find fruit and veggies for us but it was a challenge to keep us on any kind of normal eating schedule.

Anyway, on this day, we drove, and drove, and drove. This was definitely the worst day. By 8 at night we still weren't there so we stopped for dinner. We must have always picked the wrong exits and hotels because there was NEVER anywhere good to eat. So we stopped at a Burger King. It was gross. I literally could not eat anything and could not believe I was actually feeding that crap to my kids. On top of that, I let them play in the play land because they had been sitting for so long. I never let my kids play in places like that. This was seriously the lowest point. I truly wanted to abandon the plan and head home.

We also lost an hour at this point so we got to the hotel at about 11pm and crashed. Sadly, this was probably the nicest hotel of our stay and we only got to be there for a few hours. Oh well.

Day 4 - Wednesday, August 24

At this point we had given up on getting a good start, especially with the time change. We dragged our sad behinds out to the cars and started on our way to New York. Again, we got to Rochester really late at night. I was so hoping there would be a good restaurant near the hotel and yeah! There was an IHOP. But guess what? We got there so late that it was closed so we had to walk to the nearby Target and buy stuff we could cook in the microwave. Again, we were in a scary area and the hotel was dirty. This was so, so hard.

Day 5 - Thursday, August 25

Luckily, on this day we had a break and didn't have to travel. We went to all the Church history sites in the morning and had some good pizza in a little shop in downtown Palmyra. We had a lovely experience in the Sacred Grove, saw the Palmyra temple, and went to the Grandin Press where the Book of Mormon was first published.

In the afternoon, we let the kids play. Then we did head over to IHOP to get something decent to eat. Eli was not happy to hold still at the restaurant so I just took him back and had Chad and Mom bring us something to eat. Then we all tried to get some sleep. No one got a lot of sleep on this trip with all of us sleeping in the same room.

Day 6 - Friday, August 26

We left Rochester and started for New Hampshire. This was only a 6 hour drive (on paper) so we weren't dreading it too bad. By this point, Eli was really suffering. He had been having bad diapers for a couple of days and during this day's drive, he threw up. I didn't know if he was sick or if the drive and weird food and sleep were taking their toll on him. I was really worried about him.

As we drove through Vermont, the scenery got so beautiful and we started to feel a sense of anticipation that we were getting close. When we crossed into New Hampshire, I said, "We're in New Hampshire kids!" And Eli copied me and said, "New Hampshiiiire!" It was pretty cute. We found our house and the keys were just on the doorstep so we went in and were met with a nasty smell coming from the washing machine. It was pretty dirty and just hard to see the situation we were entering with no beds, no chairs, and several loads of dirty clothes. Luckily, the bishop and his wife live just up the road and they offered to let us stay with them that night. We left our belongings in the house and went to the Findlayson's to put the kids to bed. They were so nice to feed us some dinner and let us have a clean place to sleep. We were also able to wash and dry Eli's special blanket for him and it felt so good to be able to take care of my kids a little better.

Day 7 - Saturday, August 27

I couldn't sleep so I got up early and went to buy cleaning supplies and went down to clean the house. We knew the hurricane was coming and I wanted to try and get things as settled as I could. When I opened the door, I found that all our snacks had been eaten by mice and there were dropping everywhere. Plus the stench from the washer. I was so overwhelmed and really was ready to not sign our lease and find somewhere else to live. I went up to talk to our land lady and address our concerns. She cam down and looked and said we could take care of these problems. I felt better so I cleaned and eventually Chad and the kids woke up and I went to get them. I ran several loads of bleach water through the washer but it still stunk. I looked inside and found the cause of the stench - a dead mouse. Oh man. This is so great. So, after Chad removed the dead mouse, I bleached it some more and the smell was gone. Magic!

Chad and I also went into town and got groceries and found a mattress store and bought some new beds. We knew we needed another queen bed since we now have a guest room so we bought a queen bed for us and a twin bed for Carter. The queen bed wouldn't get delivered until the next Wed but we were able to just take the twin bed in the van. Now we had that bed for Mom to sleep on, and blow up mattresses for the rest of us. I was dying for a real bed - my bed. Nope. Not for awhile. Eli was still sick. He just laid on me or Mom and slept all day. I was so worried about him. These few days living a the house with nothing were really hard and it was scary knowing the hurricane was coming. All the stores were sold out of flashlights and candles and bottled water. I have a really good 72 hour kit but it was stuck on the moving truck somewhere! Ahhh!

So, that was the trip in a really wordy nutshell. Let me attest to the fact that it was painful. A hard trial for us. But we survived!