A Long, Long Car Ride

12-19

Well, here goes... We had planned to leave for MN on the 20th, making the drive in 3 days and stopping in Coeur D'Alene and Miles City before making it to Fergus. Our plans changed before we even left the house! We ended up leaving at 3:30 on Friday the 19th and driving 6 hours to Kennewick, WA before stopping for the night. We left by 8:30am the next morning and made it to Saturday's destination which was Bozeman, MT. Again, we hit the road about 8am the next morning. At that point, we thought we were still too far out to make the rest in one shot, so we tentatively planned to stop in Bismarck on Sunday night. Fortunately, the roads were great and the weather was cooperative for a really uneventful trip, so when we arrived in Bismarck around 5pm, we stopped for supper at McDonald's before ultimately cancelling our hotel reservation and making a break for Fergus. We didn't get to FF until after 10 that night, but it was so, so nice to be out of the car and not have to finish the drive - no matter how few hours were left - the next day. The kids did so well in the car. Molly only had a few moments of fury, but considering we traveled 1727 miles from Roseburg to Fergus, she did great! Charlie and Alanna watched plenty of movies! 13? 14? I don't know - I lost count. Alanna played babies and they both played with their tag readers, but otherwise, they were happy little travelers only asking for snacks, drinks, or to retrieve something they dropped. It really helped to have a parent sitting in the middle with the kids. Honestly, that job is way harder than doing the actual driving. The driver gets to put in earbuds and take a mental break while driving!

I think Alanna took a nap all three days of travel. Why not, right? We did have some early mornings and late nights while we were traveling so it was good for her to grab some extra rest in the car. Molly took a few short naps in the car each day, but otherwise she was awake and wanting to play toys. I don't think Charlie slept at all, but I could be mistaken. He has the ability to keep himself awake to watch movies even if he's pretty tired. :)

Day 1:

 

Day 2: Did you notice Molly's change of clothes? Molly had a number of leaky diapers/blow-outs on the trip. She definitely won the title of "Person Who Created The Most Laundry While Traveling." :/ We were able to swim at the hotel in Bozeman, something the kids were so excited about. Molly even got her swimsuit on! She and I were in the water, even though there aren't any pictures of us.

 

 

Day 3: At this point, even taking pictures in the car of the kids was old news. These pictures are from the play place at a McDonald's in Bismarck. I cannot begin to tell you how much I don't like those things, but I turned a blind eye to all the nastiness for the sake of my children who had energy to burn! So many stinky, dirty bare feet and greasy french fry fingers have touched that play space... I nearly bathed the kids in hand-sanitizer in the bathroom before we got into the car. I need to relax about it - I get it. Anyway, we arrived safely in Fergus around 10 that night and kept Lake Grandma and Grandpa up quite late playing and bathing before finally going to bed around midnight. What an epic car trip! Actually, in the grand scheme of things, it was really uneventful. We got to see some beautiful country!