However, once on the road it didn’t take long for that excited energy to turn to boredom and lethargy.
We left Gilroy, the First-born, the Longboarder, and I, at 1:30pm Pacific Standard Time on Saturday the 30th of June. The First-born and Longboarder almost immediately went to sleep. I drove us over the Diablo range (Pacheco Pass), up the valley, and over the Sierra’s (Donner Pass) into Nevada. Drove past the biggest Little City (Reno), and watched the sun set behind the mountains north west of Winnemucca.
I made it all the way to Wells, Nevada, before I needed to switch with the First-born. It was a little after 10 pm. The First-born drove the rest of the way to Cheyenne with a few stops along the way for gas and bathroom breaks. We arrived in the driveway of our Aunt’s by 10:15 am Sunday, Mountain Time. I awoke in Wyoming to smoke filled skies. We thought from the fires in Colorado, but we’re informed later that it was from fires in Wyoming. Cheyenne and probably all of Wyoming and Colorado have smoke filled skies. It smells of smoke. All the talk and news is about fires. Colorado’s new name is Crispy Colorado.
Driving in a car for 20 hours is like being on a long flight overseas. Only the bathroom is bigger and you can get out of your seat and get fresh air and don’t have to listen to crying babies or annoying drunk passengers or plane changes. Oh and TSA. Not sure which is worse, 20 hours in a car or plane? I think it is a toss up.
We tried three audio books. First one was lame. Well, could have been cool if we were 12. So only listened to the first disc. Second was was pretty good. Would have been funnier if I was British. The third was a hit. We are still listening to it and every time Longboarder and I would wake up, we would have First-born tell us what we had missed in the story.
Longboarders first comment once we arrived in the driveway of Aunt P’s house was, “Get me out of this car!” Thinking that everyone was still at church, I texted my cousin D and asked her what the door code was for Aunt P’s house so we could use the bathroom. She texted back the code and to the front door we went. First-born said, “we should see if she is home first”, and proceeded to knock. Aunt P opened the door. She said that she had been texting cousin D and cousin D had texted that we were there. Aunt P texted back saying that no we weren’t. Cousin D texted back, “they are in your driveway!” And sure enough we were.
We relaxed and washed up, unpacked, and discussed where we would be sleeping. Me, upstairs in the spare room (cousin D’s old room), and First-born and Longboarder in the basement rooms. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and put flip-flops on and we were ready to go to Grandma’s. We had lunch there of KFC. Longboarder said, “finally, real food”! We had packed our pantry and fridge for the trip. We didn’t stop for food, drinks, or snacks. We had PB&J sandwiches, nuts, doughnuts, water, kool-aid, and other various what-nots from home.
Various relatives started to show up, Aunt J, Cousin D and her hubby and two girls (Miss Princess and Miss leave me alone), Uncle E, Cousin T and his better half and their kids (Young cowboy and cowgirl), Uncle E’s sister and hubby, and Cousin T’s better half’s parents. All were there to celebrate Miss Princess’ 3rd birthday. Miss Princess got a lot of new Princess clothes. She also got her first bicycle.
We played candyland with her on the table we had made for her. First-born, Longboarder, and I were walking zombies, only we didn’t eat anyone’s face off. Miss leave me alone is about ready to walk. She is around 10 months old. She doesn’t like me yet, or maybe she was just tired and crabby. I’ll go with tired and crabby, and not the fact that she has never seen me before. We explored the bunk house and basement at Grandma’s and chatted with everyone. We went back to Aunt P’s for bed, and I had my first poop in over 24 hours. First-born left her mark in every state. We will sleep good tonight. I hope so anyway because I have kankles!
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