I was "dead man driving" the last day or so of the trip and it took me 2 days to feel well enough to write. We all got sick on the trip home and mine seemed to worsen as the days went on. My daughter thinks it was stress and I'm sure it had something to do with it, but I'm not stressed now, but still sick.
Traveling with a 21 month little boy who was also sick and hurt (fell and put his teeth through his bottom lip) was a challenge. I think he might be able to be an opera singer since he has a very high pitched scream he practiced often on the way home. We tried playing my dog relaxation cd hoping it worked with kids. Although the kids weren't impressed with it, the dogs and the grown-ups seemed to be a bit lulled. In spite of the craziness of driving with 2 adults, 2 kids, and 2 dogs in my Prius, we are all still friends, so that is a good outcome.
Our last night on the road was spent at the newly remodeled Motel 6 in Texarkana. No extra charge for pets. Rates were $35/room plus tax. We again got separate rooms. Motel 6 is now decorated in a minimalist style with some kind of non-carpet flooring. I missed the frig and microwave, but appreciated how clean it looked. Seymour and Zooey were pretty comfortable, too.
Wednesday morning Shannon and the boys were ready before I was even up - everyone was eager to get home! We packed up or I should say "stuffed the car" and made our first stop about 15 minutes later to get coffee and diet coke for the ladies. I've lost track of the stops we made but Shan said she would drive through the night to get us home. The 4 year old was easy to travel with but he did have to pee at inopportune times like after a gas or food stop. Luckily Shan found an app for the iPhone that told us what was at each exit, so we were able to find bathrooms pretty quickly.
The dogs continued to ride in their bed in the front seat where Shan's feet were supposed to be. Zooey was pretty quiet the whole ride but was eager to get out when we stopped. She is afraid of the beeps from the iPhone when Shan plugged it into the cigarette lighter, so we all had to yell and cheer to cover the sound of the beep. The boys seemed to enjoy that spontaneous 5 second celebration.
Seymour had a few times where he got up and I'm not sure where he was going, but I'm assuming if a door or window was open, he would have decided to walk the rest of the way. Not sure what was going through is mind. Maybe his ears were hurting from the high pitched screams.
We went through a number of places where there was construction, slowing us down to 0 mph. Once my GPS asked if I wanted to switch to pedestrian mode! I have never seen that before. Did it think that we just abandoned the car and took off walking carrying the GPS? I'll admit, it would have been faster.
We made our final stop outside of Waco because The baby was starting to fall asleep and we needed to stop for food and a break before he conked out. Then we headed toward Austin and took the bypass with the 80 mph speed limit. I had trouble getting my car to go that fast but when we finally reached that speed, I noticed that my MPG decreased to 39. It had been as high as 48 but on the way home, was mostly around 43. So, driving that fast really hurts financially. But we were all ready to be home, so it was money well spent. Every time we stopped the dogs looked up at me as if to say "Are we home yet?" It was nice to finally say YES!
They did not eat well on the trip. They ate most of the snacks I bought but wouldn't eat their dog food. When we got home they both made up for it. Seymour ate about 4 meals the first day home - both his and Zooeys. I had to finally hold him so Zooey could eat. They were both really happy to be home. And the rest of us were, also.
Love my little guys.
Kisses are always welcome.
Next year is my parent's 70th Wedding Anniversary. It is going to take me that long to recuperate!
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