In a couple hours we will begin the long, arduous drive to my parents' house.
Soon we will load the car with a week's worth of clothes, xmas presents, a DVD player, toys, 2 boys hyped up on sugar from their school holiday parties, one overworked & stressed out adult male, and my slightly claustrophobic, pessimistic self, dragging along a Zen loaded with audiobooks and a scarf I am crocheting.
16-19 hours in the car (depending on whether you believe AAA or Google) plus numerous potty breaks, snack stops, stretch our leg stints and a night in a random hotel. There will be DVDs for the boys and as I mentioned, plenty of audiobooks for DH & I. We're listening to SPQR I: The King's Gambit, today and The Story of English tomorrow (or maybe Holy Disorders, depends on our mood) Plus some obligatory Douglas Adams. We've been making this drive every year for 12 years now. Some Douglas Adams is a requirement either coming or going. Last year was Starship Titanic. This year will be the BBC radio version of Hitchhiker's Guide.
We're taking the creative way to Florida this year, rather than the direct shot down I95. The direct shot down I95 gets a bit tedious and boring. It just goes on and on and on... So we'll be cutting though mid Virginia and the smaller end of NC heading through SC and GA before hooking up with I4 & US 27 in FL and no doubt getting lost on some backroads as we make our way south. We'll probably get lost in Virginia just to start things off right, we usually do. AAA booked us this way this year (it's slightly different every year). Google wanted to send us down I95 and across to I75. But Google can't get us from our house out to the main road without sending us in circles or down gravel roads when there are perfectly good paved roads an eighth of a mile away, so I never really quite trust Google. AAA got us from our house to the main road correctly, so we are going with them this year. AAA seems to think this will take us 16 hours of drive time, not include all the 'construction delay' warnings they gave. Google, once I forced it to go the same way seems to think it will take us 18 hours and 45 minutes to drive & doesn't mention the construction delays. Not sure who to believe but after about 12 hours in a car, even with a break for a night's sleep, it all sort of blurs into the mental belief that you will NEVER GET THERE. You cross into Florida and think WHOO HOO!!! We're in Florida!!
Just the whole length of the state still to go....
and Florida is a LONG state.
I'll be live tweeting today's drive, so if you follow me on twitter, you will be treated to random updates about my location and my mental & emotional state, assuming I manage to text anything at all. I suck at texting but I'll have hours & hours to try & get it to work.
8 comments:
Good luck with the drive! There is no way I could do that! LOL
OMGoodness, good luck on your trip! The good news is, it's really warm in Florida right now!
good luck on your trip! Have a save trip with not to much stress for all of you
Best of luck with the drive! Dd-15 is getting the first 3 books in the 5 part-trilogy of Hitchhikers Guide by Douglas Adams for Christmas. Do you do any of the driving or is it all dh?
If you're sharing the driving duties I hope you know the Mommy Driver Zone thing. That's where no matter what the heck is going on in your car, you zone it out. I have it down to a science. My partner though does not, doesn't get it and is incredibly frustrated at the arguing that goes on amongst my 2 teens on car trips.
We did have a few interesting car trips when they were younger. They would start physically slapping each other and punching each other as I drove. So I instituted the hands on your head rule. If you can't keep from touching each other, you have to put both your hands on your head. So from Kenosha to Milwaukee my kids had their hands on top of their heads. I can only imagine what people in cars driving past us thought.
Have a GREAT trip and a safe drive!
oh I don't know where you are starting out - sounds midwesty - that is the most boring drive ever!!
Have a safe trip! :-)
Post a Comment