Adventures in Traveling

After celebrating Christmas at home with just us, we piled in the van the day after to head south to visit Mark’s family. Because of cold symptoms slowing me down, we didn’t get out of St Louis until around 10 am. So the 10 – 12 hour drive seemed even more daunting since we knew we would not arrive until late.

We were driving along, making good time. The kids were occupied by the family Christmas gift (dvd players for the van), and all was going well. Then, at around 5:45 pm, we received a call from a friend who is caring for our dog in our absence. He was at our house, and Simon was not willing to take orders from our friend. He barked and barked, and retreated to our living room sofa, where he promptly peed.

It Takes a Village?

I suggested calling Simon’s former owners, to see if they could calm him down. A little while later, we heard back from our friend. Simon’s former owner’s stopped by and properly introduced Simon to our friend. Since we’ve heard no further reports, we assume the rest of the week has gone alright. Apparently, “it takes a village to raise a dog.”

Next time we leave town, we’ll be sure to introduce Simon to his caretaker. Live and learn.

Thank God for Cell Phones

We continued on our journey, and around 7 pm, we stopped for a greasy meal at Long John Silver/AW Rootbeer in Muskogee, OK. Charis only wanted a milkshake. So we gave her half a small milkshake and forced her to eat a hot dog sans bun. Oh, when will we learn?!

We jumped back on HWY 69, and drove a couple of hours. Shortly before we reached Tushka, OK, Charis said she needed to use the bathroom. We finally came to a Valero gas station after several minutes of driving from the time the request was made. Mark took this opportunity to get gas while I took Charis into one of the most disgusting roadside bathrooms I’ve seen. After a short wait for Charis to perform, she said, “I need to throw up.” I told her to hold on, thinking if I turned her around to throw up in the potty, she would wet herself. Bad choice. Pee is much easier to clean up than pink vomit laced with hot dog chunks. Thank God for cell phones. I promptly called Mark and sent him back and forth for clean clothes, paper towels, a new trash liner for the gas station bathroom, etc.

Upon leaving the Valero Station in Tushka, OK, we witnessed a police bust of what we assumed to be some sort of drug charges. We were happy to leave behind this facility and get back on the road.

We arrived at the grandparents’ home at around 10 pm. Charis had slept most of the way since her throwing up incident, so we were hopeful all was well. Just when we pulled into Mark’s parents’ driveway, Charis said, “I think I’m going to throw up again!” Arrrgghhh! Before I could get her out of the van, more pink vomit was decorating her carseat. With a towel from Grandmommy wrapped around her, I whisked her to the bathtub for another cleansing.

Needed Rest

After a day of much needed rest on Thursday, Charis was back to her normal self. We all needed a day of down-time after after our adventurous day of traveling.

We’ve had an enjoyable visit with Mark’s family, and we’re looking forward to our drive home on New Year’s Day . . . sort 0f.

6 thoughts on “Adventures in Traveling”

  1. Yikes! Sounds like an “adventure!” (See my Chesterton quote at the bottom of my blog…)
    I’ll pray your trip home is much less eventful! After our drive from Atlanta to Holland, MI and then from Atlanta to Sarasota, we’ve decided that traveling with kids adds at least 25% to the drive time of any long trip! Happy New Year!

  2. You poor woman. I’m impressed you put a new trash bag in the bathroom. Why do kids always get sick in confined spaces?

  3. Hey Angie,
    Thanks for stopping by. As my post yesterday indicated, we made it home in record time with no bodily emissions to clean up along the way. Yeah!

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