58 Hour Adventure

As I relax after a full night's sleep, in a quiet house (Owen's at Mo's), I replay the events of our 58 hour road trip to North Carolina. The plan was to stay a week. The plan laughed in my face. This makes me giggle now, not so much then, but I'm giggling now. 

The trip was a success! Owen and I were able to spend all day on Tuesday with my Aunt, Uncle, my two cousins and their children. We stayed with Paw-Paw and Nana and we were difficult house guests (to say the least) and they were very accommodating.

This was the first time Owen had ever stayed away from home (aside from staying with Mo and Pa). 

I have learned many little tidbits from this adventure, here are a few:

• You can pack for everything, but packing for everything will not prepare you for everything.
• I do not miss Charlotte traffic AT ALL. Nope, not one little iota.
• It's best to take small trips before jumping into a huge trip.
• If it can go wrong, it will.
• DO NOT EVER travel during/shortly after the Holidays. EVER.
• Some plans work out, all plans do not.

We departed for our trip at 9:30 am on Monday and hit Charlotte traffic around 5 pm (of course). I began thinking at that moment, "What was I thinking?" Owen fell asleep at 6:40 pm, as we're still in  Charlotte traffic. We finally arrived at our destination in Linwood, NC at 7:30 pm, Owen still sleeping soundly (whew). At 9 pm, the fun begins. Owen wakes up and wants to go home. He wants his bed and his kitty. I did everything I knew to do as a Mother: I rocked, I comforted, I held, I snuggled and nothing seemed to do the trick. Two loooong hours later, we're both exhausted and we fall asleep. 

We wake up to the pouring down rain Tuesday morning and Owen's okay. He had a gift to open and out pops a shiny new tractor, he's good! Yay! Go team! I have a few minutes to shower and prepare for the day. Awesome! Today's going to be a great day! YES! 

We head out (in the pouring rain) to buy gifts for my cousins and visit for the day. I really enjoyed our time with family. This is definitely what made our trip a success. Living in Georgia, I don't get to see my family as often as I'd like and visiting made the entire trip worth it.

Owen falls asleep as we're dropping off my two cousins and heading back to Paw-Paw and Nana's. Couldn't have happened more perfectly right? WRONG! He wakes up and wants to go home. Again. Two loooong hours later, we fall asleep.

Wednesday morning, we wake up and all is good. Owen's playing, having a good time and by this point, I'm running on empty. As I pace the floor, I decide the best thing we can do for the both of us is to go home. I ask Owen, "Woog, would you like to go home?" He replies, "YESSS!" And we're off by 11:30 am. 

The trip goes well down I-85, I-77 and then the fun begins....we hit traffic on I-26 at 4:15 pm and the car starts to run hot. Super. Mental meltdown begins. We start to go and the car doesn't want to go. Thank goodness I'm prepared for anything. I pull over grab one of my shirts, pop off the radiator cap, grab my backup water in the trunk of the car (for things such as this), fill Ebony (my car) to the gills and off we go. Not very fast, I might add. Yessss!, I think.  WRONG AGAIN. The Service Engine Soon light comes on. At this point, I'm in tears (yes, tears) and I call Daddy. Crying like a baby and  asking, "why me?" Of course, he's trying to help (just like I knew he would) and I'm trying not to let Owen see my Mental Meltdown, so I'm sobbing quietly, as he watches Toy Story for the fourth time on the trip home. We're in the middle of our trip, three hours from any safety net possible and I'm in eject mode. 

Fortunately, the Mental Meltdown didn't last but a few minutes, the service engine light eventually went off (I guess the computer reset. Who knows, I'm obviously no mechanic.) and we remain in traffic until I-95 near Savannah. 

Finally, 70 mph down I-95 and it's on. By 7:30 pm, we arrive at Mo's and Owen is asleep. He insisted that I drop him off at Mo's and go home. Sounds good to me at this point. Whew, this 58 hour adventure is over and I haven't even taken my camera out of the car. Do you believe that? That just shows you how much of an adventure it was. I did however, take a couple of pictures with my phone, but that's all.

Sitting in Traffic and trying to find a new route!