As you may remember, a few months ago, we took The Great Road Trip of May 2009. It was awesome, and we can’t stop raving about it.
In fact, here is what we’ve discussed so far in the story:
I’ve implied up to this point, that the entire road trip was a success…and it was, over all. One could gather from our enthusiastic story-telling that a “successful” trip means that every minute of it was perfect.
It wasn’t.
So, what happened?
Was it the little temper-tantrum Claire had one of the days in San Diego? No, not really…but it was a doozy.
One afternoon, Claire reached her wit’s end and had a full-blown tantrum in front of her aunt. Luckily, it happened when we were back at the hotel and not out and about. It was time for my sister to head back to her place after spending the day exploring with us. We were going to grab dinner and explore a little on our own. All of a sudden, Claire snapped.
We’d been gone a week, and she was done. She wanted HER bed, HER stuffed animals, HER kitties, and HER house, and she wanted them NOW. Never mind we were half-way into a 2,500 mile road trip. Never mind we were days (literally) away from home.
She wanted what she wanted, and she wanted it 2-minutes ago, thankyouverymuch.
I let Claire scream and thrash around on the hotel bed, and I apologized to my sister. Wanna see three? This is what you get sometimes with three. I knew that all we had to do was ride it out, but my sister isn’t used to this kind of thing. Still, she didn’t even bat an eye. In her opinion, the fact that it had taken a 3-yr old this long to get upset was amazing to her.
We said our good-byes for the day, set the time to meet in the morning, and we turned our attention to the preschooler in the room.
My hubby and I looked at each other and knew what to do. Napless, cranky-pants? Time for a drive! We scooped her up and strapped her in the car seat. About 30-seconds into our little afternoon drive, and Claire was out like a light. We kept driving as she snoozed, and she woke up a completely different person.
So, that little meltdown wasn’t really a kink in the trip.
So, what was?
Well, the last night of our stay in San Diego seemed to go well. We’d had fabulous food, a blast on the beach and awesome adventures. It was time to hit the road in the morning…next stop: Flagstaff, Arizona!
Daddy tossed and turned a lot that night, and by morning, it was evident that something was not agreeing with him. And, that’s putting it lightly. No, I won’t share. You’re welcome.
He was sick. By our calculations, it was something he’d eaten the day before, and we were able to pinpoint it. There was only one restaurant we’d visited that he’d eaten something different than the rest of us. At every other place, he’d had the same thing as at least one other person (me or my sister or Claire), and no one else was sick, so that had to be it.
But, that didn’t change the reality of the situation. This was a kink in the trip, if I’d ever seen one…
“What do you want to do?” I asked him, concerned. I was concerned for him and not our trip agenda. “Do you want me to push our reservations out a day? Stay here to recoup and bump the trip out a day? We could totally do that. I could make that call right now…”
After some deliberation, we decided that we’d press on. If you’re going to be down for the count, it’s best to do it on a day when the only thing on the agenda was “get from Point A to Point B.” I’d do all the driving to Flagstaff, and he’d try not to make a mess in the car. It seemed like a fair trade.
Before we loaded up the car, I was able to find a drugstore…all by myself! And, this was pre-Glenda! I was so proud of myself. I got what I needed and headed back to tend to the sick and finish packing.
So, we headed out. Needless to say, that was a long drive…for all of us. But, we both held up our end of the bargain. I didn’t complain once about the hours I spent behind the wheel, and my husband was able to keep it all together. Claire was concerned about Daddy, but she had a great time road-trippin’.
We got checked into our Flagstaff hotel, and with Daddy curled up on the bed, we enjoyed our Pizza Delivery Fare, served picnic-style in the room. Claire and I had a chance to play in the hot tub before calling it a night.
It was the end of a very long day…496 miles long, to be exact.
Here is where I’d share pictures from this travel day, but there are none for May 11, 2009…the day that my husband would just soon forget and quite honestly doesn’t remember much of anyway.
Stay tuned for the next installment…this time with less sickness and more photos! 
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