We Take a Road Trip

I had to feel bad for putting my parents through, after enduring one myself as an adult, the dreaded family road trip!

Well, actually it wasn't that bad, I mean nobody actually died or was harmed in the making of the road trip. Although, I'm pretty sure threats of bodily harm were involved at some point.

I helped Lori and her three kids drive from La Grande Oregon to Payson Arizona. Two days of driving in the hot, hot sun especially in Utah. I forgot that to me, as a mature adult, five minutes is just five minutes, but to a child under the age of 10 five minutes might as well be five years. I think that's why every five minutes Wesley would ask, "are we there yet?" Oh, to be a kid again and have absolutely no sense of time!

We had bouts of cranky, sick, hungry, potty emergencies and thoroughly bored kids at one time or other or all at the same time. To quote one of my favorite philosophers, Nacho Libre, "It was fantastic!"

Chaz turned out to be a one man comedy tour. He kept cracking jokes when he was at that deliriously tired stage. Chaz was the only one who understood and laughed at his jokes, but the process of cracking himself up made Lori and I laugh to the point of tears which only encouraged him to make more jokes...in short it was a vicious laughing cycle.

When we finally stopped the first day to go to sleep the kids were so excited to get OUT OF THE CAR they were literally bouncing off the walls, beds, bathtub, you name it they bounced off it. This, I'm sure, endeared us to our next door neighbors.

The next day was much better. I think somewhere the kids realized or at least accepted the fact that being in the car was a fact that they weren't going to escape anytime soon and kept the fighting to a mere minimum, except the whole "I'm pretending to be a vampire" incident. We were able to see parts of Lake Powell, drive over a freakishly high bridge, and get Burger King without anyone crying. We stopped at a rest area/information center that had metal sculptures of dinosaurs (genius for a rest stop visited by children).

We finally made it to Payson and enjoyed sitting down on something that wasn't moving. The kids seemed excited to be at home with their dad and I could tell that the natural rhythms that flow through a family's existence was beginning to get in sync.

It was sad to say goodbye to the kids after a summer of seeing them everyday. It was lonely going home and not be able to run over and go hang out with my sister, but at least I have that memory of driving down to Arizona with them, that is until I forget about it.