Thursday, June 30, 2011

Traveling day has arrived

It's finally here! The day we leave for our trip! YAY!

Of course, I didn't get everything done like I had wanted to Sat night, which meant I would have to really be on top of my game.

Sunday morning came early, as usual, and I did my best to get ready without waking Shane up. I grabbed my papers as I was leaving for church and my coupon binder so I could take care of that while I was there. I knew there wouldn't be as many kids because of Father's Day so it was easy enough to go through them and clip the coupons.

I did see a couple of things I wanted to grab at CVS on my way home, so I ran in and got those then hurried home. Our beach towels still weren't washed because there wasn't a full load, so I threw them in right away and started gathering things.

I try my best to not be a last minute packer, but it always seems like I am taking care of everything else and I end up packing right before we leave. This wouldn't be such an issue if I wasn't so indecisive. I guess the positive is that I know I'm indecisive and so does Shane, so he forgives me when he sees that I now have my rolling suitcase, weekender bag and a garment bag now packed along with a large utility tote holding shoes and toiletries. Shane, being the wonderful husband that he is, just smiles and says, "Tell me what is ready to go out to the car" God, I love that man.

I did my best to pack the car. I seem to have a better reasoning for how things fit than Shane, so this is always my task: How to fit what seemingly shouldn't fit into one trunk. Thank goodness we were taking my car. There was no way in the world that we could fit everything into Shane's.

We left our house around 3:30 pm. Our itinerary said we should leave at 3, so Shane was a bit concerned until I explained that I put it that way to make sure I was loading the car at 3, which we were. We drove to pick Caylie up from her Dad at his dad's house. When we had almost arrived there, we realized there was a knocking noise coming from the rear passenger side wheel area when we turned left. We checked everything we could possibly check and had to make a quick decision. Do we keep going and make sure to take it easy or do we go back home, unload and have the car checked the next day? Shane thought we may need to check it out, but I told him there was no way we could afford to lose 2 days of our trip. There was just too much planned. So, we got Caylie in the car and headed on our way.

We hadn't even made it to the interstate when she fell asleep. I owe a huge thanks to her dad and grandparents for letting her swim and play all day and not giving her a nap! We were able to make it to the opposite side of Knoxville before I had to take a potty break. I think I could have made it to our first scheduled stop if it hadn't been so hot! It was 100 degrees when we were loading the car, so I was drinking a lot of fluids.

Of course, when we stopped Caylie woke up. This was a little over 2 hours after we left, so that was a good nap.  We got back on the road and drove approximately another hour or so to get to our first refuel stop. My mom was gracious enough to let us use her gas card and pay her back when we returned so that our funds wouldn't be tied up in fuel. So, we had checked ahead on some gas applications where there would be  BP gas stations with the best pricing. The place we decided to stop first was Fort Chiswell, VA. The BP station there had gas at $3.30, which was by far the best price we could find for the entire trip at a BP. We filled up and made some sandwiches and then got back on the road. Shane took over driving at this point and sometime around Roanoke I fell asleep and so did Caylie.

The weather was not in our favor so much as it started a serious downpour while Shane was driving. I think he said it lasted for around 2 hours. The next mapped stop was around Winchester, VA, but unfortunately the BP there was closed as it was around 1 am. So, I started checking the map apps to find another BP station. We were able to locate one just inside of NJ that was within our gas range.

Shane decided he'd had enough when we got to Frysville, PA. So, I got out and walked around for a few minutes to make sure I was awake and took over driving to the BP in Phillipsburg, NJ. Shane of course, fell right asleep.

Back when we were looking at having a destination wedding there was a beautiful mansion in Bethlehem, PA we considered. Since this was on our route (only 5 mins off  the highway) I decided I would drive by it since we never actually saw it in person. It was definitely beautiful, but I'm glad we didn't decided to have the wedding there. I just don't think it would've been quite the same.

So, we made it to Phillipsburg and the best thing about crossing into New Jersey is....you don't pump your own gas! As a matter of fact, it's not legal for you to pump it. You pull up, hand the guy your card/money and he takes care of it all. It's so nice to get this pampering. Then we continued on our way (with Shane awake) to our first real stop, the Bagel Chateau in Westfield. We arrived there around 6:00 am and thus began Day 2.

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