I have been busy making our new house our "home." We're almost settled -- I have made four sets of curtains (post to follow) and have been busy down-sizing too.
I know you all are dying to know how to successfully travel across the country with a baby (and a dog).
Did I mention that I put in new sinks & faucets in the two upstairs bathrooms? --- and that we bought a sink & new vanity for the bathroom downstairs ?? Day one consisted of the finishing touches on those along with some last minute packing.
Adios green & yellow sinks! HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO beautiful new white ones!
Saying goodbye to the loveshack was a lot harder than I though it would be. I have grown to love this house.
-- especially this room!
We said our goodbye's and headed out the door with heavy hearts.
Day Two: Spokane, Wa --> Bozeman, Mt
Day Three: Bozeman, Mt --> Rapid City, Sd
Day Four: Rapid City, Sd --> Kansas City, Mo
Day Five: Kansas City, Mo --> Franklin, Tn
Day Six & Seven: Franklin, Tn
Day Eight: Franklin, Tn --> Fort Bragg, Nc
John was lucky enough to travel solo with the U-Haul. Multiple times he asked if I wanted to switch and take over the reigns, but I just couldn't. It's too intimidating to me so I just jammed out okay, I listened to NPR with Buttons and TAB.
A few quick tips...
1. To avoid any cell phone tickets, we used walkie talkies. They come in handy! Get some.
2. I let John lead (most of the time) because I didn't want other drivers to hate me for going so slow for what looked like no real reason. -- better to look like an annoyed driver who happens to be following a U-Haul than a total oblivious driver going waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay below the speed limit.
3. Put all toys up front with you. Hand back as necessary. I don't mind the noisy ones. They seem to keep TABular entertained longer.
4.INVEST IN A PACIFIER CLIP. It's a lot easier to find the pacifier at the end of the string than it is to blindly search for it in the car while your supposed to be driving.
5. Pack some bags and extra clothes. Remember my post about Tristan agreeing to not get any bodily fluids on me? During this trip, our agreement went out the window. The little stinker took part in what can only be described as pukefest2014. This kid puked (and had massive blowouts) for daaaaaaaaaays. I never thought it would end.
6. You can never have too many wipes or diapers.
Meals:
1. We always ate breakfast before we hit the road in the morning -- it was included in our stay.
2. Lunches were usually fast
3. Dinners were more relaxed -- We varied it up -- some sit-down restaurants and some "fast" food (thank you, Chipotle).
4. Pack snacks -- like applesauce, cherrios, graham crackers, string cheese (in a cooler), black beans!
Sleep:
We brought our pack & play. I know most places have cribs available, but I didn't want to have to wait for the crib to be brought up -- not to mention in our Chicago trip the bars were so far apart that Tristan lost his pacifier a million times.
Attractions:
We stopped at a few fun places (mostly all in SD). We went to Mt. Rushmore, Wall Drug, and the Badlands. It was a great way to break up the trip some. Normally, we stop a see a few more sights, but we really wanted to spend a lot of time in Franklin with our family.
Toward the end of the trip, John and I got into a rhythm. A lot of times, if I just needed to pull over to give him a bottle/change a diaper, I'd let John go ahead and just catch up to him. This was the best of the trip because the speed-racer in me was allowed to come out. I mean, we were on open highways for days and I had to go well below the speed limit. Not fair.
Good Luck & Have Fun!
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