Road trip home

Apologies for the lack of editing and pictures in these posts.  We forgot our camera cord at grandma's, so we will have to add pictures later.  And we haven't had an Internet connection at home until today because of some work that was done on our house... So I have done my best to write in pieces while nursing at night..!

Road trip home days 1,2

Sat august 3, we drove with our trailer from northern Virginia to Charleston, West Virginia.  Pulling our little family up and down the rolling hills made our gas mileage terrible, but we made it.  We arrived at the beautiful home of uncle Jim, aunt Beth, and cousin Matthew in time for dinner and some fun play time with Matthew's remote control car.  

Sunday Jason had a great trail run in the morning before we went to the river and spent the afternoon cruising in the power boat.  It was lovely!  Ava was hilarious in her life jacket and Rachel slept on the floor of the boat for a decent nap!

That evening Jason and Jim went out in the Porsche.  While out, Meggan got an alert from the Krispy Kreme app on Jason's phone that said the 'hot light' was on in South Charleston.  We had been joking about this for weeks as Meggan has never been inside the actual donut store (it's not as big in Canada) but it was a big thing for Jason's friends while in college at NC State.  So Jason and Jim returned with a box and we enjoyed one...or two... or three...

They were very good.  Not helping the pregnancy weight thing, but they were good!

Monday Aug 5 - Road trip home day 3

From West Virginia, we checked off Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri to make it to St. Louis for dinner.  We were out of the house at 7am after a rough night with Ava, but were happy to have a good day on the road.  We made it to see our friends Mike (and Cindy - who we didn't actually see because she was working) Montana and stay at their place.  Rachel chased the cats around while our friends Scott and Kit Meddles brought over pizza dinner.  After a nice visit, we decided we would push off the next morning instead of exploring St. Louis for an extra day.

Tuesday Aug 6 we drove west and north so we could hit Iowa.  We spent the night in a hotel ($49, awesome breakfast and pool) in Lincoln, Nebraska.  We found take out cheap Thai next door and went to bed early.

Rachel funny comment of the day ...

Daddy bangs foot and groans 'I just broke my toe!'

Rachel says 'you couldn't break your toe off, daddy!  They are attached and kind of wooden so they can't come off!'

Wed Aug 7 - road trip home day 5

Nebraska and eastern Colorado are boring and difficult to stay excited through.  We had a great lunch stop at a park with animals and a cool steam engine you can explore.  Other than that, we just tried to push home.  Everyone was tired and a little cranky but we made it home for dinner.

At home we saw our new patio /basic back yard, and started emptying the trailer.  Our house looks like a bomb went off and flung random things in every direction.  Rachel was ecstatic to be home and brought out every toy she had missed in the 3 weeks we were gone.  She had a very difficult time getting to bed and staying asleep because she was so excited.

It's fantastic to come home to a freezer full of food, thanks to the friends that brought us meals when Ava was born.  We can spend a few days getting organized and stay well fed now.  Jason returns to school for planning before teacher work days actually start on the 15th.



I would say overall our road trip was a huge success, with no disasters.  Our girls were amazing little travelers and we enjoyed seeing folks along the way.

Our state count (not including airports but we do include driving across the state line even briefly) is now: Jason 48, Meggan 41, Rachel 33, Ava 20.

[Jason needs Louisiana and Michigan.  Ironically Meggan has been to Michigan and needs Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut.]