Summer road trip 2019 day 5: Driving and rain


Pressing on. This morning Brandon reminded me of Jim Gaffigan saying of hotel pools, “Oh, yay! I get to swim and stay and pee all at the same time!” We stayed in our first hotel last night. We had to get two rooms because we are basically hauling a small village across the country, and somehow hotel people that kids sleeping on the floor is not civilized. I guess I agree. Hotel floors. Ew.

So I can report that we all took showers and no longer smell like rotting feet and old underwear. You’re welcome. Imagine all those dirty pioneers wandering around the hot desert states for months, no toilet paper, no showers, no change of clothes. No wonder why people in the Wild West were so prone to shooting one another.

It was all very exciting. There was free breakfast, and a hotel pee…er…pool…to swim in, and so much coffee. Endless coffee. Brandon and I are existing on coffee right about now.

We were supposed to make it to Lancaster PA by tonight, but when there are hotel pools to play in, destinations seem unimportant. But we did make it through Illinois, Indiana, and most of Ohio.

This is beautiful country. We are listening to the Little House books, and The Story of The World Volume III. There was so much sickness and death back then. Probably because people didn’t shower for 3 days and died from their own stench, but they called it Plague just to be polite.

There are farms and hills and forests here. Sometimes there are farms on hills surrounded by forests, sometimes forests surrounding farmed hills, sometimes there are farms surrounded by forested hills. And red barns. And horses. Highways are narrow and uncrowded. You might pass an onion truck, or a truck filled with pigs, a truck carrying a monster tractor with menacing blades hanging off of it, and this hippy mobile. Hippy driver included.

And our history audio book told us that Napoleon declared that women should have no rights, and they should stick to their knitting. Well, I am knitting on this car ride, and Napoleon is dead. I’m ok with that situation.

We had set our minds on an all-night drive so we could make it to Lancaster, PA for the Amish country experience. I was just settling in for an evening nap when one of Brandon’s adventurous cousins messaged us to ask if we would stop in to visit…and stay the night. I am not always sure people understand what it means to have 5 kids and 2 adults crash at your house. But this is Brandon’s family. There are a lot of kids in that family, and they seem to know how to handle chaos and come out smiling. Besides, there are Amish-ish things to do in Ohio, she assured us. And my kids have always wanted to meet cousins on Brandon’s side. So just after midnight, we pulled into their driveway, and I realized that this might be the first time the kids have met any of Don’s family! They are such good people, Don’s family. We have to see more of them.
And now we have finally had rain!
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