Road Trip

Back in the day, I loved taking off on road trips with some of my good college friends. We would pile in a car, look for a good radio station, and car-dance our way down the road. Keep in mind this was before CD players were installed in cars; most people were just starting to buy CDs instead of cassette tapes. This was also before a Starbucks could be found every 30 miles or so down the road. Some of our favorite songs were by Cheap Trick, Prince, Madonna, and Paula Abdul. Since we were in college, we would start out bright and early - around noon or so. Even though we thought we were broke, we would stop at Taco Bell if we were hungry for a snack along the way. Our road trips would often take unplanned jaunts to somewhere interesting like Lake Wappapelo or the General Baptist Headquarters.

Now that I am a grown up, road trips have taken a turn for the worse. First, if I am not crammed in a car with friends who will talk to me, I apparently do not like to travel. I am also now chief guardian to a child who doesn't like to travel either. Nevertheless, all three Carvers set out on our road trip home for Christmas a few weeks ago. Just like in my college days, we brought along some good music to listen to - the soundtrack from the movie "Hoot". I can safely say we loved it the first 100 times we listened to it, now it is a little old. But Alex loves it, and it makes him happy. We thought Alex might sleep in the car, so we planned on leaving at 4:00 am. Important note: this would be the time we would normally get back from a college road trip. To save money, we packed a cooler and lots of snacks. Since some things never change, our road trip was also filled with unexpected detours. Picture yourself in the back seat of a Hundai Santa Fe. The back is filled with suitcases and Christmas gifts. Here is what your trip would have looked like:

Day One - leave Florida at 4:00 am
4:41 - Drag Alex out of bed and take him to car in pj's. Alex squeals with delight, "are we going to Grandma's?"

4:42 - (Me to DH) "Did you put the lunch meat in the cooler?" - Turning around and returning to house.

4:46 - Leaving our town only 46 minutes behind schedule.

5:02 - Alex is not sleeping. He grabs my face with his hands. "Look hun, it says five, zero, two," pointing to the clock.

5:03 - Alex again grabbing my face, even more excited, "Look honey, it says five, zero, three!."

5:28 - Alex says, "Mom, look is says five, two, eight. I miss Grandma. I want to go see her."

That day of travel only took us 16 hours.

Day Six - leave Indiana at 10:00 am
Our trip to Illinois was much shorter, only four hours, and we actually left on time. Alex spent most of his time taking pictures. Here is my favorite.

Day 12 - leave Illinois at 7:00 am
7:42 - DH to me in backseat, "Are we ready to go?" Me, "No," as DH backs out anyway. Me, crying as my coffee spilt - OK, not really crying, but sad for sure.

7:44 - backing out again.

10:17 - finally found a Starbucks inside a Kroger!!

12:18 - Metropolis, Illinois - we must visit large superman statue. It is, after all, only three miles from the rest area.

1:17 - Somewhere in western Kentucky, we catch a girl named Shishi on 100.3 - the Beaver.

1:20 - Hoot CD - again!

All in all, we were really pleased with how well Alex did in the car. It was a long trip, but a great trip.