Although we had a bit of an ugly scare that led me to think for a while that Delaney and I might not travel to Indiana, we did and we arrived safely (i.e. no one had to be strapped to the roof of the car after all). I'm so proud of my little Super Trouper for being a stellar traveler. She only fussed once or twice during the entire trip and when she did her mini-whines only lasted about 90 seconds until we were able to cheer her up by screaming and cheering as we drove under bridges or by producing a snack pack of goldfish crackers. The kid just goes with the flow. So, as it turned out, traveling with a toddler was the easy part. No, the hard part was finding common ground while traveling with my husband.
You see, I was raised under the conservative, and slightly militaristic, guidance of my (now retired from the Army) colonel father. He is a man who plans everything down to the very last detail and family trips were no exception. The man could tell us at 7am as we embarked on vacation exactly what time we'd pull into the hotel parking lot that night--down to the minute, no matter how many times we stopped along the way--and he was never wrong. I grew up with planning and precision as cornerstones of a well-organized life. Enter Roger. His, shall we say, management style is a bit different. He's not as much of a planner as my father and stupidly, on my part, I never considered this until we began our trek. I drove him nuts for nearly 1200 miles with my questions about exactly when we'd arrive where, how many miles there were between point A and point B, why we were going that way and where we were staying each night. I wore the poor man down and it wasn't until I realized that there's more than one right way to travel and that I needed to let go and let him do it his way that he and I were able to enjoy a pleasant trip together. But luckily, I did realize it. I guess that's what's important. I hope I can maintain my new outlook for the trip back. Otherwise I fear it'll be me who'll be strapped to the roof of the car. Gulp.
I'm sorry to hear you had a bumpy start but glad your trip came out well, in the end!
Posted by: karen | June 11, 2007 at 12:07 PM
Glad to hear that you are there safe and sound! I've been thinking about you and glad to hear that Delaney was a good traveller and that Roger didn't "accidentally" leave you at a rest stop along the way. ;)
Posted by: MamaChristy | June 11, 2007 at 02:23 PM
I'm so proud of you for figuring that out so quickly! It took me years to realize that you don't really NEED to know EXACTLY where you'll be 3 hours from now.
That being said, Shane's lack of "organization" while travelling still unnerves me a tad now and then.
Glad you all had a good trip!
Posted by: Lisa | June 11, 2007 at 09:22 PM
Checked your site this morning on the off-chance you might have updated since you left and was thrilled to hear news of your trip (and, of course, Delaney). Was going into serious withdrawal and that helped (a little).
Posted by: Pat Mask | June 12, 2007 at 12:03 PM
So glad you made it safely (and feeling well) without any major meltdowns!! Now I'll cross my fingers for some nice spouse bonding time during the road trip home! ;)
p.s. we are headed to Florida this weekend and I have an entire bag of nothing but snacks...glorious snacks. That and the double screen DVD player are key.
Posted by: Jamie | June 13, 2007 at 01:51 PM
Sounds so much like my parents -- Mom's a total planner, down to the last second, and myd dad's this wandering, "Oh, let's go look at that and delay things for a day," sort of guy.
I remember watching a video my sisters filmed while traveling with my parents in Germany. It was of them arguing over that day's plans. Hilarious -- brought back so many memories of childhood vacations!
Posted by: Arkie Mama | June 13, 2007 at 08:26 PM