The trip into the Twilight Zone

The big journey. What an adventure. First thing, I have to thank Theresa and Matt. I am sure they felt the same way that I did. Which is, That it was going to be pretty boring. I knew that the kids would be a little bit antsy. Well, It turned out to be a trip that showed what you were made of.
Let's start at the very beginning. When Theresa and Matt got to the house and walked in I think they may have been a little scared that we were not going to be ready in time (I don't want to put words in any one's mouth so you would have to ask them what they really thought.) There was stuff every where. That's just how I pack, plus we had to live there for another week. We did get everything done and the day before we left we went to get the truck. Now this is important because we order a 20 foot truck. (I think?!) They did not have that size so we got an upgrade 26 foot. This truck was a monster. We had plenty of room for everything. We had everything done and all we needed was the rental car. We got that on the morning that we left. Well, again the size we wanted wasn't available so we got a free upgrade. Sounds good so far, right?
We had wanted to start at 8:00 am, but because of the car we started an hour later. Which at the time no big deal. Looking back that was the beginning. So Mary had to ride in the truck with Matt and Theresa. I drove the car with Sarah and Jonathan. We went until around 10:30 and Mary started saying she was starving. I forgot to put any snacks in the truck. They were all in the car. So we started to look for a rest stop, so we could get her some of the snacks. Unfortunately for Mary I think there is only 1 rest stop in the state of Florida and we passed it before she had told us of her hunger. We finally had to take an exit. Since we were stopped we decided to fill up the tanks and go potty. I got juice for Sarah and Johnny and gave Mary and Sarah a snack. We get back on the road and Sarah starts to cry. Johnny is trying to take her pretzel stick. Light bulb, maybe your baby is hungry! I get on the walkie talkie and I say "We forgot to feed the baby!" Theresa reply "Do you have a mouse in your pocket?" Clever. We decide that the best thing to do is pull over so Theresa can hop in the back seat and feed the baby. It's uneventful for a while eventually Theresa gets back in the truck. She didn't want to get car sick in the back seat. We stopped another couple of times. Basically, it seemed we just kept getting farther behind the schedule that we all had in our minds. The main goal was to get home Saturday night or since I haven't given any dates, in 2 days and 1 night.
We finally stop at a truck stop to let the kids out to walk around, fill up, and have dinner. It was around 5:00 ( I can't be absolute about the times, close enough for you to get the idea.) I can't remember where we were but I think it was Georgia. I have to say the people in the cafe area. They were the nicest most accommodating I have ever met, although the food was kinda gross. I got a B.L.T. and the B. was straight off the pig and I know that a lot of you out there may think that is great and you all know how I love the bacon but honestly I like it processed more than that. When we finally finished we had been there for about an hour. Johnny was soaked and I really felt we needed to get back on the road to make up some time so instead of going through the trunk getting the suit case and then having to go through that. I just took off his clothes and threw a blanket over him. We get on the road and around 10 min. I again hear Sarah and she sounds grossed out "ewww, Johnny no. Mom Johnny diaper. ewwwwwwww." That's right Johnny has found a new toy. He has taken off his diaper thrown his leg up over his seat and well you can only imagine. Once again I get on the walkies. I have a problem. My baby is nude. We have to stop. Now! The next exit we pull over and there just happens to be a Starbucks. Matt pulls in and goes to the drive thru window. I pull around and park. Yes I go through the trunk the suit case. I cloth him once more. I get back in the car. Matt is done at the drive thru waiting for me near the drive way exit. I pull up next to them. Let's go. Theresa shakes her head. What? Matt hit the building and they are calling the cops. Now let me make this clear he nicked the corner and barely touched the rain gutter. It really looked very minor. I mean as far as hitting something. Long story short, ha ha. The cop came looked at it and hopefully the truck insurance will pay for the damage to the building. The truck was fine. We get back on the road. We all felt really bad about what had happened. I blamed myself and had to call Jono to make sure it wasn't my fault. Matt and Theresa start talking in the truck. Theresa said she was sorry that she wanted coffee and Matt said he was sorry he hit the building but they decided it was all my fault but Mary let them know that "It's not my mom's fault, she didn't do anything she just wanted her baby clean." Thanks Mary. After I spoke to Jono I called them on the walkie talkie and we decided we were all equally blamable in the situation.
We made it to south Carolina and I was so tired I couldn't drive anymore so we get a hotel room. I was worried the kids wouldn't be able to sleep but Mary and Sarah went to sleep almost immediately. It took Jonathan a little longer. Mary and Sarah got there own little cot. Jonathan and I shared a bed and Matt and Theresa shared the other bed. We all finally went to sleep but at some point during the night I wake up to Matt right nose to nose with me, he whispers Tracie your snoring. Of course I was horrified as Jono put it later "My secret was out." I guess when Theresa saw Matt getting up to wake me she said Don't wake her she is exhausted. Matt's reply was "So am I." Sorry guys, I guess I kept snoring on and off for the rest of the night. No one really got a good rest.
The next morning we start out everything is going OK. I get tired and Theresa takes over driving. Of course as soon as we start back up after Theresa took over Sarah pooped and it was so foul it left a bad taste in your mouth, and made your eyes water. When we stopped I had to again go threw the suit case. All day we are calculating at what time we are going to make it home. Jono and I discussed it on the phone and we thought it wouldn't be until 1:00am but Theresa wanted to get there around 10:00pm. When I mentioned that this wasn't very realistic she didn't want to hear it. I really can't blame her at this point. I think we all just wanted this trip to be over with. During this conversation Theresa looks over at me and says "Was this crack here yesterday?" That's right folks a mysterious crack has shown up right near the rear view mirror, I don't think it was there but where it is located while driving you can't always see it. What are you gonna do? Hopefully that's covered by the car insurance. I bet your all thinking it's a good thing we got all that extra insurance aren't ya! Let me just say you should always get it. Please always get it. GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We finally make it to DC and I was trying to take a little Nap because Theresa can't drive at night because of her eyes. I was just drifting off when I hear her on the walkie talkie to Matt. "Did I just miss the exit?" All I could think was NOOOOOOOOO! I sit up and we did miss the exit. We drove right threw DC. I saw the Washington Monument, so cool. I was thrilled. Matt and Theresa not so happy. Theresa because she felt bad that she missed the exit, Matt because we had to go threw a tunnel in this huge truck and well that was hairy. I think Matt said he lost ten years. Luckily and I truly mean Luckily we had I think a foot to spare. When we finally got threw DC, I really think it saved us some time. We didn't hit any real traffic because it was a Saturday. Of course at the time it did not feel like the best thing. It took us all a while to get over Washington DC. I talk a lot when I'm nervous and Theresa at one point as we are leaving Washington looks at me and says "If you could just be quite for 30 seconds." unfortunatly I had to look at her and say "I don't think I can." HA HA No joke that conversation really happened.
We stopped for dinner right before we got on the New Jersey turnpike and we realized the directions that we had took us on the Garden State parkway and The enormous truck that we had was not allowed on the Garden State Parkway. So we had to call Bob (Theresa's Dad) and Charlie (Theresa's uncle) and Terry (my brother) to find an alternative route. We did this while we drove on. We finally get directions. We had to take the turnpike to the end. I forgot to mention that right as we got on the turnpike Jonathan lost his pacifier. We told Matt to keep going we would catch up. Theresa pulled over and we did a mad search for the pacifier. We had to he wouldn't stop crying. It was horrible. We finally found the pacifier and the batteries of the walkie talkies are going dead. I think that Matt got a little nervous. Who can blame him he had no idea what had happened to us and we could hear him calling for us and I had to change the batteries before we could answer. When we finally called him back well you know how that is relief and maybe a little upset from the worry nothing major. We truck on when we get close to where we are supposed to get off the turnpike, I see Theresa is getting really nervous. The turnpike was really busy. So at the toll booth we switch places. We start looking for the route we have to take and at one point there is an exit around a corner in the left lane that we don't want, I just switch lanes in time of course Matt in Mister Gigantic Truck has to practically stop so he can switch lanes and here is where I thank Matt yet again because he was so calm on the walkie talkies with us. I am crawling in the car because I made the switch and he didn't finally calmly "I'M behind you, we are fine, nice and easy we'll be OK." Of course Theresa and I are all panicky. If it wasn't for Matt's calm reassurance we would probably still be circling New Jersey. When we finally made it to 87 and actually knew the road. It was such a relief we all got a little giddy I think. Just the knowledge that it was almost over. So we made it. The only thing hurt was the Starbucks building somewhere in Georgia or South Caroline.
I Just read this over again and have to apoligize because my grammer and punctuation leave something to be desired and I also wanted to clarify for those that don't know Theresa is Jono's Sister and of course Matt is her husband.