Slow and unsteady...is just glad to finish
We are finally in Utah. Hallelujah. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
After a road trip that was just short of apocalyptic, we made it with only minor bruising to show for it. We should've known this road trip was going to be an event of epic proportion when it started with a turtle semi-rescue wherein I made Bryce jump out of the car to rescue a turtle that had taken it into his head to cross the road in the middle of a busy intersection near our house. After that turtles were everywhere. Seriously. One was even crossing the freeway in the middle of Nebraska with no water in sight. So strange.
The car looked like a war zone from day one, courtesy of Little man, but we were prepared for that disaster so it didn't faze us much.
However, when our car started making some not-so-comforting noises just outside of St. Louis, the worries began. Thankfully I have a daddy who can diagnose the problem when I say, "It's going duh-duh-clickety-clunk" and warn us that it is the brake. And even more thankfully I have a husband who listens to when the Spirit tells him we had better stop for the night and have it looked at. The Midas man (who is my new favorite human) said it was a miracle our car stayed intact as he discovered that when we had the brakes replaced the day before our trip it somehow slipped their minds that they might need to tighten the lug nuts. I'm still saying constant prayers that Heavenly Father looked out for us that night and kept us all safe, not to mention the fact that the Midas man will get a lifetime supply of cookies from me because he is my hero. Really, if you ever find yourself needing car help around Fairview Heights, IL, go see Denny Sleeper at Midas. The end.
The car looked like a war zone from day one, courtesy of Little man, but we were prepared for that disaster so it didn't faze us much.However, when our car started making some not-so-comforting noises just outside of St. Louis, the worries began. Thankfully I have a daddy who can diagnose the problem when I say, "It's going duh-duh-clickety-clunk" and warn us that it is the brake. And even more thankfully I have a husband who listens to when the Spirit tells him we had better stop for the night and have it looked at. The Midas man (who is my new favorite human) said it was a miracle our car stayed intact as he discovered that when we had the brakes replaced the day before our trip it somehow slipped their minds that they might need to tighten the lug nuts. I'm still saying constant prayers that Heavenly Father looked out for us that night and kept us all safe, not to mention the fact that the Midas man will get a lifetime supply of cookies from me because he is my hero. Really, if you ever find yourself needing car help around Fairview Heights, IL, go see Denny Sleeper at Midas. The end.
But really that was only the beginning. After that we had the great floods of Iowa/Nebraska. We turned in to get some food and found all the restaurants closed and people frantically sandbagging. It turns out they had opened a spillway in the Missouri river and the whole place was about to be underwater. We were told that the highway was still safe, but when we got about a mile down the road and found the lane next to us entirely covered in water, we decided to take a different route, adding an hour to our trip, but ensuring we got there. Didn't get any terribly good pictures, but you get the idea. Even with our alternative route we watched the flood waters threaten the freeway through half of the state.As if that wasn't enough, we finally found a Subway (to provide Little with some fresh veggies since that is about the only thing he'll eat at the moment, which makes road tripping rather interesting) and as soon as he finished his meal, it promptly… came back up. After many tears, towels, and outfits, he felt a bit better, but we decided since we were going to be up all night anyway, we'd push on through the night and make sure that he had a bed waiting for him at the end of his blechs.
After that we had exploding drinks, more turtles, a brief stop in Kingdom city, a herd of wild horses, and last but not least, arriving to find Utah frozen over (not implying that Utah has any similarity to the bad place). In the end we were looking around every turn for locusts.
But all is well now and we are in Utah safe and sound. The first thing we did was start to unpack and the first thing Little Britches did was prevent us from doing so, mostly by attempting to play the laundry game which we invented to be a distraction for him so I could get things done at home, but this time it was in my suitcase so it was less than helpful.
I think he enjoyed the unpacking though because he has picked up a new habit since we've been here. He runs around "putting stuff away." I use that phrase loosely as his version is more like hiding things in random drawers where I will never find them or closing doors/cupboards while I or he is still in them. All the same... I will definitely encourage the impulse.
All-in-all, we saw some fun things on the way, but we are glad the road trip is over.
But all is well now and we are in Utah safe and sound. The first thing we did was start to unpack and the first thing Little Britches did was prevent us from doing so, mostly by attempting to play the laundry game which we invented to be a distraction for him so I could get things done at home, but this time it was in my suitcase so it was less than helpful. I think he enjoyed the unpacking though because he has picked up a new habit since we've been here. He runs around "putting stuff away." I use that phrase loosely as his version is more like hiding things in random drawers where I will never find them or closing doors/cupboards while I or he is still in them. All the same... I will definitely encourage the impulse.
All-in-all, we saw some fun things on the way, but we are glad the road trip is over.
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2 comments:
I'm just so freakin' glad you made it safely. So very, very glad.
That's crazy! I'm glad you made it to Utah safely. Having just made a vacation to Texas with two days of driving on either end, I completely understand your pain. Roadtripping with toddlers is interesting, to say the least. :)
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