Road Trip

Well, we survived the road trip. I’ll admit, I’d been dreading it since the first time it was mentioned. I don’t care for being in the car for a long time, and the girls have never done more than a few hours (and some of them tend to get car sick). I kept voting to fly, but unfortunately it was cheaper to drive, even with the high gas prices and hotel stays (although two of our hotels were free due to Kevin’s accumulated points). I tried to do some of the planning, but adding up the hours on various routes through the country just stressed me out—so I got fired. Kevin finished the planning.

We left on Friday, June 27th in the afternoon. Twenty minutes into the ride, before we had even picked up Kevin, Girl 3 asked, "Are we there yet?" Oh, you have no idea. I drove through Indiana to Indianapolis and by that point Girl 3 was asking if we could go home. My driving shift was too long and my shoulders had really tensed up.

Kevin drove into Kentucky where we arrived pretty late and spent our first night in Louisville. The next morning we woke early and drove to Mammoth Cave National Park. On Friday we had driven into the Eastern Time Zone, but on the way to the cave on Saturday we crossed back into the Central Time Zone. We had reserved tickets for a cave tour for 10:30am, but not knowing the time zone, arrived much too early. Sure wish I could’ve had another hour of sleep. Our tour of the cave, the longest in the world, was great. We descended hundreds of stairs through narrow passages and saw some neat sights. Girl 3 was a little afraid and wanted to be held most of the way.



Back on the road and on to Tennessee. We didn’t hear from Girl 1 or Girl 2 much the whole trip. They were in the back seat of the van, stocked with books, books on tape, activities, and this ancient VCR with travel TV screens. They traveled very, very well. It was sometime in Kentucky, I think, that Girl 3 developed an accent. She started saying "Ye-ah" and "N-o, wa-ay." Too funny! She also decided that she was 4 years old and would tell that to people who asked. By the end of the trip she was saying that she was 4½ years old. It was a very long trip. She also got very particular about numbers. If we pulled into a gas station and we were at the wrong number pump she would scream. She would pick out the number lane we had to drive in to pay our tolls on the toll roads. I suppose it was the only control she had left—being strapped in her car seat for 8 or more hours a day.

We drove Tennessee top to bottom, dipping into Alabama and Georgia at the bottom, just to say we were there. Strangely enough, they looked a lot like Tennessee.
That evening we went to the wedding reception of Kevin’s cousin in Cleveland, Tennessee, just outside of Chattanooga.

After the reception (which was incredibly boring for the girls) we drove to Knoxville and spent our second night there. Kevin decided that for food, we would never eat at the same place twice, so Saturday night we tried out the Waffle House. We had seen signs everywhere and were curious. Curiosity satisfied, we don’t need to eat there again. The food was fair, the prices too high. We missed out on Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky and didn’t get the chance to introduce the kids to Chick-fil-A. We did find a full menu Dairy Queen (ours only serves ice cream and hot dogs) and got our food to go. Who doesn’t put ketchup on hamburgers? Very bland. Oh, and crying from the back when the ice cream bar fell apart. We had to take what we could find when we were hungry—meaning that sometimes we didn’t get lunch until 2pm or dinner until 9pm.

Bright and early Sunday morning we were on the road to North Carolina. We stopped just past the border to do a mini hike in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Very pretty.

Realizing that our trip across North Carolina to the beach house would take us about another 8 hours straight (arriving quite late) we decided to take an extra day and do a little detour to Chimney Rock Park. Now, had I realized that the road there was tiny and full of switchbacks, I never would have suggested it. Certainly a bad idea. Girl 3 made it, only because she fell asleep. She did get carsick on the way from the park and we had to make an emergency stop on the side of the road. Chimney Rock Park was nice, although we didn’t have much time to spend there and it rained most of our hike up to the waterfall (the only time it rained the entire day). Time to move on.
Since we had decided to take an extra day we drove into South Carolina, just to say we had been there. Again, looked a lot like the state we were just in. Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina were all beautiful. We spent that night in Raleigh. By that point, Girl 3 had decided that hotels were okay and we could just stay at the hotel. She was not excited to get back into the van, even though we assured her that we were really going to the beach house.


We were almost to the Outer Banks when we saw (and smelled - even though our vents were closed) the smoke from the smouldering fires. So much for that exciting Alligator River boat tour Kevin was planning on taking Girl 1 on (Girl 1 was cheering).


Every morning at the beach house the air was smoky, but it usually went away by the afternoon so we could spend a pleasant time at the beach or in the pool. The girls had a blast and got quite tan. We all had a good time.

But all things must come to an end, so by Saturday morning we were on the road again. Over and over Girl 3 asked, "Why do we have to leave the beach house?", "Why?", "Why?" We drove first to Jamestown Settlement in Virginia for a little history lesson. Then toward Washington DC where we got stuck in traffic for a couple hours due to an accident (or so they said—we finally got fed up with 5 miles per hour or less and took an alternate route).

We drove into Maryland then Pennsylvania where we spent the night just outside of Pittsburgh. Another late night. The next morning, we left early again. Girl 3 did not want to get into her car seat and screamed when we made her. She was so done with the road trip. Me too. Even though I was sitting (sometimes driving, sometimes entertaining Girl 3) traveling was physically draining for me. "Mom, I’m hungry." She had finally given up and realized that she was going to have to sit in the car for who knows how long.
Across Ohio and Indiana—not quite as scenic. It’s not that they are ugly states, but not nearly as lush as the states we had previously driven through. "I want to get out of the car!" Sorry, kid, we’re just not there yet. Finally we arrived, about 3pm on Sunday, July 6th. We stumbled into the house and began the task of unpacking. No rest for the weary. So the next day, what do I hear..."When can we go back to the beach house?" Not for awhile, not for awhile.


All in all, we drove 2,424 miles in about 42 hours (1,409 miles 25 hours on the way there, 1,015 miles 17 hours on the way home). Traveled through 12 states. Tiring. Sure glad to be done.