Well, folks, we made it. Home, that is. I am typing this last post from the comfort of my own kitchen, sipping a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee while Olivia watches Super Why. Life is back to normal. Well, sort of - Pat's company car wouldn't start this morning, but that is fairly normal too since this is the 3rd time in less than a year that we will have to have it towed. Don't ever buy a C Max.
But I digress...the trip home was, as you might expect, LONG. I had a pretty good attitude about it considering it was the 3rd consecutive day that we spent in a car, and I tried my best to keep my driver entertained - I read a children's book about the 50 states aloud to him, I sang out loud to Johnny Cash, I looked up random trivia facts on my iPhone (did you know that in a room of 23 people there is a 50% chance of at least 2 people having the same birthday? It's called the "birthday paradox" and I actually remember learning about it in a college stats class - look it up). Olivia actually hardly needed to be entertained - she literally watched the same "Olivia" DVD the entire ride home. 9 hours of hearing the same theme song music over...and over...and over. But hey, whatever. If she was happy, I was happy. But even with perfect driving weather and road conditions (no contstruction! How is that even possible in the Midwest in the summer?!?), we were soooo ready to get out of the car when we finally pulled into the driveway. Olivia literally screamed and clapped her hands when she saw our house: "YAY! We're HOME! Ahhhhhhhh!" And she ran around the house singing, "I'm so happy to be HOME!" for at least 10 minutes.
Would you like to know how far we traveled on this trip when it was all said and done? Curious as to how many beers we drank (spoiler: too many to count)? Here is a look at our camping trip when you break it down:
Miles driven: 3,014
Hours on the road: 47
Dollars spent on gas: $1,000 (ish)
Number of times I shaved my legs in 10 days: 2
Number of times I used a blow dryer in 10 days: 0
Number of times my brother-in-law Paul blew a fuse because he blew his hair dry EVERY DAY: 1 (his hair did look better than mine)
Fast food meals eaten: 7
Glasses of wine drank: unsure. That's the beauty of boxed wine!
Pounds gained: 3.2 (2.4 lbs for Pat; 0.8 lbs for me - I think this is a win considering the fast food and wine numbers above)
Number of times Olivia peed through her pants and onto her car seat: 5
Loads of laundry done from the road: 5
Pairs of shoes I brought: 3 (this is absolutely amazing considering how much I love shoes. I actually meant to bring a few more pairs but forgot to toss them in the morning we left...turns out 3 pairs was enough)
National Monuments visited: 2
Number of times I cooked anything: 0 (I know!! Unbelievable, right? Makes the whole trip worth it for that alone!)
"You know what was fun about our trip? Cramming 3 humans and 2 dogs into a 200 sq foot box and bumping into each other all the time! And constanting putting up and taking down the pack 'n play for our kid!"...said no one ever. On our drive home yesterday, we reflected on what to do differently the next time we go on a long road trip. Here's what we came up with:
1) Leave the dogs at home. Or at least Buddy. He is basically as big as a person. Imagine having to navigate around a 100 lb. person on all fours in an RV all the time. Yeah, not fun.
2) Olivia will sleep in her own bed above the cab and we won't have to constantly disassemble and reassemble the dining area to accommodate her pack 'n play. 'Nuff said.
3) Bring extra RV parts that might be difficult to find on the road.
4) Bungee cord the crap out of all of the cupboards.
5) And most importantly, BE PATIENT. Everything takes longer in an RV; and by that I mostly mean getting to your destination and finding a place to park. I think overall I get a pretty good grade on this one for this trip but next time my expectations will be different so I have a more patient attitude from the beginning.
So that's it. Back to real life, which is comforting but also means I have to start wearing make-up again. Bleh. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. Cheers!
But I digress...the trip home was, as you might expect, LONG. I had a pretty good attitude about it considering it was the 3rd consecutive day that we spent in a car, and I tried my best to keep my driver entertained - I read a children's book about the 50 states aloud to him, I sang out loud to Johnny Cash, I looked up random trivia facts on my iPhone (did you know that in a room of 23 people there is a 50% chance of at least 2 people having the same birthday? It's called the "birthday paradox" and I actually remember learning about it in a college stats class - look it up). Olivia actually hardly needed to be entertained - she literally watched the same "Olivia" DVD the entire ride home. 9 hours of hearing the same theme song music over...and over...and over. But hey, whatever. If she was happy, I was happy. But even with perfect driving weather and road conditions (no contstruction! How is that even possible in the Midwest in the summer?!?), we were soooo ready to get out of the car when we finally pulled into the driveway. Olivia literally screamed and clapped her hands when she saw our house: "YAY! We're HOME! Ahhhhhhhh!" And she ran around the house singing, "I'm so happy to be HOME!" for at least 10 minutes.
Would you like to know how far we traveled on this trip when it was all said and done? Curious as to how many beers we drank (spoiler: too many to count)? Here is a look at our camping trip when you break it down:
Miles driven: 3,014
Hours on the road: 47
Dollars spent on gas: $1,000 (ish)
Number of times I shaved my legs in 10 days: 2
Number of times I used a blow dryer in 10 days: 0
Number of times my brother-in-law Paul blew a fuse because he blew his hair dry EVERY DAY: 1 (his hair did look better than mine)
Fast food meals eaten: 7
Glasses of wine drank: unsure. That's the beauty of boxed wine!
Pounds gained: 3.2 (2.4 lbs for Pat; 0.8 lbs for me - I think this is a win considering the fast food and wine numbers above)
Number of times Olivia peed through her pants and onto her car seat: 5
Loads of laundry done from the road: 5
Pairs of shoes I brought: 3 (this is absolutely amazing considering how much I love shoes. I actually meant to bring a few more pairs but forgot to toss them in the morning we left...turns out 3 pairs was enough)
National Monuments visited: 2
Number of times I cooked anything: 0 (I know!! Unbelievable, right? Makes the whole trip worth it for that alone!)
"You know what was fun about our trip? Cramming 3 humans and 2 dogs into a 200 sq foot box and bumping into each other all the time! And constanting putting up and taking down the pack 'n play for our kid!"...said no one ever. On our drive home yesterday, we reflected on what to do differently the next time we go on a long road trip. Here's what we came up with:
1) Leave the dogs at home. Or at least Buddy. He is basically as big as a person. Imagine having to navigate around a 100 lb. person on all fours in an RV all the time. Yeah, not fun.
2) Olivia will sleep in her own bed above the cab and we won't have to constantly disassemble and reassemble the dining area to accommodate her pack 'n play. 'Nuff said.
3) Bring extra RV parts that might be difficult to find on the road.
4) Bungee cord the crap out of all of the cupboards.
5) And most importantly, BE PATIENT. Everything takes longer in an RV; and by that I mostly mean getting to your destination and finding a place to park. I think overall I get a pretty good grade on this one for this trip but next time my expectations will be different so I have a more patient attitude from the beginning.
So that's it. Back to real life, which is comforting but also means I have to start wearing make-up again. Bleh. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. Cheers!
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