Wow! 42 hours is a LONG time in the car. A really, really long time. Thank you so much to those of you who were praying for us. We made it back with only one ticket, a car that smells like death, and more toys than our daughter will ever be able to play with :)
We learned at least four lessons along the way that I thought I'd share with you. Please share any lessons you've learned in the comment section -- I'm sure we will be making the trip again within the next year, so I'd love to avoid any mistakes that I can :)
1) Do not, under ANY circumstances, put your kid's sippy cup full of milk on the floor. Chances are, you will knock it over and the heat that blows directly on the floorboards will do things to the milk that you could never have imagined. Seriously....guard against this at all costs. It smells like a dead mouse and a fish lived, threw up, and then died in my car.
2) Invest in a portable DVD player for the car. My daughter is now going through Elmo Detox (or Elmo Rehab...I can't decide what to call it), but it was well worth not having her scream during the entire 42 hour trip.
3) Bring some sort of music-playing device if you EVER plan to drive through Texas, especially if you're going to be driving through from 2 to 4 a.m. Mariachi music might be your style, but when it's your only option, you really wish you would have thought to bring along your iPod.
4) Bring your license...and your proof of insurance. My husband left his wallet in his car back at our house, so he had to drive the whole way without his license. We got pulled over because our license plate lights were out. When he asked my husband for his license, he had to tell him he didn't have it. Then he asked for proof of insurance...I forgot that at home too. We now have a Thanksgiving ticket... at least he believed it was our car and we didn't end up in a lot of trouble :)Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings and great Black Fridays! Hooray that Christmas season is finally here!
Image from What's Happening in Cedar Rapids
5 comments:
Sounds like it was an interesting trip. Sorry for the ticket- we don't even have lights on our plates here in FL. Every state is different in those little things. I always keep a busy box in the car, even for short trips. DVD player is a must, books, coloring books, toys, snacks. It gets a little easier as they get a little older - then they just talk your ear off the entire way. Video games are a life saver. Yours is still too young but the VTech Vsmile is great for little ones. lol
That is a really long time in the car!! Oh and yeah spoiled spilt milk is really bad!
Glad the DVD player tip came in handy! I'm sure the spilt milk and car seats clued the cop in that it was your car--guess that's the silver linging to a cloud of spilled milk vapor wafting around your car. We don't even bring milk in the car anymore. It's just slightly less worse than the smell of baby diahrea which has soiled a car seat cover. I think I forgot that piece of advice (always line your car seat with something waterproof and able to be changed out) and glad you didn't need it.
Your quote about driving through Texas is cracking me up, and I'm gonna post it with a link to this post on my weekly round-up at Texifornia (texifornia.blogspot.com). It'll probably be up Saturday.
Oh my! It sounds like you had quite an adventure. Once I found a sippy in the car full of what I assume was once milk, although it looked black and hairy when I found it. (she was well out of the sippy cup stage when I found it.) Curiosity got the best of me and against my better judgement I opened it. It was awful, to say the least.
Glad you're home safe and sound and I hope your ticket wasn't too much!
My number one rule for drinks in the car is NO milk. Even on short trips to the store. My husband didn't listen to me, and let the kids have milk. Which they then left in the car in the middle of summer. When I got in, it was the worst smell imaginable!!
Glad you had a great trip and are back safe and sound. We don't have lights on our plates in KY either. I really think those laws shouldn't apply to people out of state, and would have no idea what the laws are in other states.
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