7 Quick Takes (#34)

I have been avoiding this blog post because our trip was uneventful and not actually that fun.  But since I can just throw it into 7 Quick Takes (lucky you), here you go!

Across the country in 7 Quick Takes

1) As in everything in life, take the estimated time you THINK it will take to pack and get out of the house for good and tack on an extra couple days.  Murphy's Law is that everyone will spike fevers and be a hot mess.

Leo sleeping off the fever just 3 hours before we were to start our cross-country journey

I spent the last 2 weeks in Maryland like this.  I couldn't put him down.  I packed boxes, cleaned and took care of feverish children.  Exactly like this.  

Or, you can do what we did: Call in the reinforcements!!!

My nephews and brother-in-law came along with my amazing realtor to take the last junk out of the house, clean the house, and pack the pod and the van.  We ran into a major problem when we thought we could fit the rest of the house in the last of 4 U-Boxes (which is much smaller than a pod).  The box was full to the max but so was our house...

But I was prepared.  I had been watching Hoarders all week.  All of this ended up in the trash or Goodwill pile.  (Except my new rug.)

2) Due to the ridiculous amount of "stuff" we have and the inability to stuff it all in the small U-Boxes, we drove for three days like this:

It was a little uncomfortable, but we have been living for almost 2 weeks with just the possessions that fit in our van and one of those shells that goes on top of the van.

I was reminded a little of Madame Blueberry (the VeggieTales Hoarders episode...)

3) After 2 nights of not sleeping on air mattresses because of fevers and coughing fits all night (and because my air mattress completely deflated by 3 am), we decided to leave around 3 in the afternoon and to drive as far as we could just to get to a real bed.  It had been a rough week for both of us.  And Jason surprised us with a hotel room at the Sheraton the first night!!!

Sooooo comfortable!!!

This was my Facebook post that first night:

Hotel stay night one: "mom we want to watch a kid show!" 

"you guys it is 10 o'clock. The only thing on is adult swim. It is innapropriate."
Elena:"i LIKE inappropriate!!!!!"
Only 1008 miles more to get to texas!!

I was proud of the strategic movement of furniture in the room so that no babies fell out of the beds (the WORST part about sleeping in new places!!).

Our second hotel stay wasn't as impressive but it had a pool!

4) A dual portable DVD screen set moved from luxury to necessity item.  We achieved the glossy-eyed, vacant-brained child for a whopping 3 days in a row...

Not this guy though.  He gave me a run for my money for 3 days...

And when they are sick of movies - Stop for CANDY!!!

5) We successfully avoided the constant onslaught of fast food this trip.  For the first time in my life, I did not experience 24/7 gut-rot from fast food during our road trip.  I brought oranges, nuts, raisins, peanut butter and jelly, sweet-and-salty bars from Costco, and cheese.  We did alright.

6) Somewhere off Route 20 in Louisiana, we stopped for gas.  The gas station was basic with sodas and hohos, but then I saw 2 large soup buckets.  I kind of regret not getting them now after reading this yahoo review, but it looked like peanut-in-the-shell slop!  This picture kind of sums it up, but it was a much sketchier joint with some of the worst coffee I've ever tasted.  If I can't even stomach the gas station coffee...well...I'm just not that brave.  I think I might have missed something awesome though???

Credit

7) Have I mentioned we moved to a dry county (more on that later)??  After 3 days in the car, we needed frosty cold beverages.  We took a quick detour to the gas station and picked up beer just in the nick of time.

The ceremonial "Taking the beer across the threshold shot"

Thank God there is no return trip scheduled.  I wouldn't survive it.

I am exhausted just thinking about our road trip.  Please visit Jen for Quick Takes that are actually entertaining and not so repetitive...