Trip report

The trip went much, much better than last year. We left our driveway at 5:15 AM and after a quick stop for gas were on our way. We took the shortcut through Arizona, and were in New Mexico in no time. A long stop for breakfast in Holbrook, then another for lunch, and we made it to Amarillo the first day. After dinner of peanut butter and honey sandwiches, we had all four kids asleep by roughly 9:00 (AZ time.)

The next day we made it from Amarillo to Missouri by evening. Paige had mentioned early in the morning that maybe we should just go for it and drive all night. We didn't really discuss it much, but kind of ended up doing it by default. Paige drove through most of Missouri, and I took over just outside of St. Louis. I fueled up on Red Bull, coffee, and several hours of Dennis Prager on the Ipod. Without any kids to stop for, we snuck through Illinois under cover of darkness (had to stash all the guns in the trunk... I hate Illinois.) Before I knew it, the sun was coming up in Chicago. It actually went really fast, and I was wide awake (coffee is amazing stuff.) We did have to make an emergency potty break in Chicago (see Red Bull and coffee.) I was almost ready to pull over and take a leak right there on the side of the toll road, and risk the indecent exposure charges.

The last 2 hours were brutal. No amount of caffeine was keeping me a wake. Paige was literally hitting me in the back of the head to keep me awake. But we made it to Michigan at around 6 AM (AZ time). After unpacking the van, we handed the kids over to Grandpa and Grandma and crashed for a few hours sleep. I'm not sure we will try that again, although if Luke hadn't kept Paige awake the whole night, and she could have gotten some sleep, I think it wouldn't have been so bad.

So no exciting stories to tell. The kids did great on the trip, considering they were trapped in a car for 2 days. They went right to sleep in the hotel with no issues. The dog even did a great job, with no disasters in the car (she even got to ride in the front seat several times.)

Now we are enjoying the lovely weather in Michigan (like living inside a pressure cooker!) and the local wildlife (swarms of mosquitos big enough to carry off our last born) and of course time with the in-laws. ;) (For the in-laws reading this, you know I like hanging out with you guys!)

We took pictures out the windshield every 50 miles. I'll try to post the slideshow when I get home.