We're Off and Rolling!

So far, so good! The kids are really doing good and have discovered that the best thing about hotels is that Grandad will push them around on the luggage carts! When we first decided to make this journey, we thought it'd be a clever idea to find something to do with the kids in the morning so that they could run and play and get some energy out of their systems before we got into the car and started the days driving. During yesterday's leg, we thought that it would be fun to stop at Mesa Verde in the morning to check out the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi Indians. I was really looking forward to this because growing up in New Mexico, we pretty much studied them every year in school and I always found them to be interesting and mysterious. What we didn't know and didn't work into our travel time, is that once you enter the National Park, it's still a 45 min. drive to where the cliff dwellings are. This means that on top of the hour or so that we were planning on sight seeing, we now have another 2 hours of travel time. OOPS! Also, the kids had no interest what so ever in walking anywhere. Molly wanted to sit in the stroller and be pushed and Jensen wanted to be carried. Somehow, he suckered Grandad into this on the way down to the dwellings. Poor Grandad! On the way out of the dwelling, which oh by the way is uphill, Jensen weaseled his way into the stroller which John was pushing and I was carrying Molly. I only made it about halfway with Molly when Beau had to take over carrying her because I was about to die. Of course, this has nothing to do with being out of shape, but more to do with the increase in altitude, obviously! All I have to say is, way to go Beau. We really thought that the kids would be all about running around and burning off some energy, but we were wrong! We really enjoyed the dwellings though. They were awesome and I'm glad that we added the extra 3 hours to our day.

Driving through Colorado and Utah, Jensen has been fascinated by all of the mountains. He is completely convinced that a "really big tractor" made them all and gets incredibly irritated if you try to tell him differently. We had a beautiful drive yesterday though and thoroughly enjoyed the landscape. We were going to see my sister Jenna in Salt Lake City (SLC from now on) yesterday evening, but because of all the extra time we spent in Mesa Verde, we got into SLC a lot later than originally planned and were all pretty wiped. I programmed the GPS for the first Hampton Inn (we're collecting points) and we were so relieved when we pulled up to it. Poor Molly had been completely over being in the car for the last 20 min. Imagine our shock when John came out of the lobby and said that they were completely full. I asked what was going on in SLC and he said that the receptionist said nothing, that they and all the other hotels were always completely booked up during the week. Now come on......really......what on earth is going on in SLC everyday of every week. I have my own theory..........it's a conspiracy by the Mormons! We didn't look Mormon, so there was no room at the inn lol. Just my own little theory though. Thank the lord for GPS because I just started calling EVERY Hampton Inn going further and further out of SLC. Finally, we found one with some rooms in Layton, which as it turned out, was only 2 exits from Jenna's house. Of course, it also added another 40 min. of driving for the poor kids, but we all made it and turned in soon after arriving.

This morning we all got up, I'd like to say fully refreshed but I don't think any of us has slept that well, had some breakfast and headed to see Jenna. Best news of the morning is that Molly and Jensen are both warming up to Beau and they went with him and Grandad down to have breakfast while John and I finished getting things packed. We had a nice, though short, visit with Jenna and Jeramey and loaded back up to start our trek for the day. Let me insert here, that while we were at Aunt Jenna's, she so kindly gave Jensen a Capri Sun to drink. Before we left, I kept telling Jensen that he needed to go potty, but he absolutely refused and John sided with him, saying that he had already gone earlier. Shocker, not 20 min. down the road, we hear Jensen saying that he's got to go potty. Luckily, we found a place to stop pretty quickly, but Molly, who had just fallen asleep, was now up. So we begin our trek again. No lie, not more than 20 min. down the road, Jensen has to potty again! This time though, there is nowhere in sight for him to go. We find the safest place that we can and let him go on the side of the road in Idaho. Will have to admit that he did actually pee quite a lot, so we definetly needed to make that stop. Who knew that a Capri Sun could cause so much chaos!

We had a good drive and started to make good time. We stopped at Applebees to enjoy their offer for a free entree for any active duty or retired military vets for Veteran's Day. Having John, Beau, and Mike, this was definetly a lucrative offer for us! We had a great meal, the kids ate great, and we were all ready to load up and try to make some tracks. Now that the kids had their belly's full, John and I were hopeful that they would fall asleep in the car, so that we could really get some miles behind us. After about 45 min. of driving, we see Mike and Beau pulling up along side of us. This cannot be good news, and as we suspect, the "Hutch and Beau Show" (they named themselves I swear) need a potty break. Once again, like with Jensen, Molly has just gone to sleep. We write a note and hold it up to the window to tell them that Molly's asleep, we're not stopping but will slow down, and they can catch back up. Our plan works marvelously, except for the fact that John's phone rings and he answers it by yelling (though he will deny the yelling) "What's up brother!" to his best friend Ben on the other end of the phone. As you can probably already guess, this wakes our dear sleeping Molly. Plan now demolished!!! Through great mommy tricks, I get her happy and we continue to roll. Mike and Beau found out during their stop that there is snow on the way for tonight, so we decided to add an extra hour to our driving and make it to Helena, Montana. We get in at a great time, have dinner, and still have time to let the kids play in our hotel room before going to bed. We did drive through our first bit of falling snow, which wasn't bad at all, but we'll see what the morning holds. So far, so good, and everyone on the trip is hanging on exceptionally well! Until next time......................