Ain't No Road Too Long - Part One

While the trip to Illinois has come and gone, spending four days on the road is fresh in my mind.  It seriously feels like we were just packing up the car and heading home...

Day 1 - Wednesday - Houston to Little Rock

I had picked up my father the previous day and we packed up the car to head to Illinois.  I know Daddy was nervous, he's a particularly bad backseat driver, but he only complained about my driving once or twice.  Once we got out of the crazy Houston traffic and stopped in Lufkin, I handed the keys over.  Daddy drove the rest of the way to Little Rock. We did have a bit of excitement, though. 

We stopped in Texarkana to fill up with gas, and Charleigh started wailing.  I jumped out of the car while Daddy was pumping gas and handed Cappy over so that I could check on Charleigh.   As disgusting as it was, I'm glad that I did.  There was poop all over the car seat.

I began by picking up chunks of the nasty poop and handing them to Daddy to dispose of.  Once I got Charleigh out of her car seat I carefully undressed her, trying my hardest not to get poop on her face or in her hair.  (And, let's be honest, I REALLY didn't want it in/on my car!). Once the onesie was off I decided there was no use in transporting that nasty thing for another day.  Into the gas station garbage can it went.  I got her (and the car seat) as clean as possible before we buckled back up for the remainder of the trip.

All things considered, we made decent time.  Upon arriving at our hotel (Townplace), I was pleased to see that they'd added more restaurants nearby.  I will admit that I was quite disappointed in the hotel itself.  We'd stayed there many times before and had always been pleased.  Unfortunately, the hotel was starting to show its age.  (Insert sad face here). And, they'd done away with the nightly manager's reception.  (Double sad face). In the past the manager's reception was Monday through Thursday nights - they'd changed it to only Monday and Tuesday nights.  Boo!

I left a very grumpy Charleigh with Daddy and headed to BJ's to pick up some dinner for us.  Once I returned to the hotel we were hit with a pretty good storm.  We attempted to go to bed early, but Charleigh had other plans - I guess that's what happens when you sleep most of the day.

Day 2 - Thursday - Little Rock to Springfield

Like the previous day, I started out behind the wheel.  Since the free breakfast at the hotel sucked we made a stop at McDonalds for some breakfast once we got out of Little Rock.  Unfortunately, that stop invited Mosquitos into the car.  There's nothing worse than driving through a construction zone and itching horribly.  (For those who don't know, I'm horribly allergic to Mosquitos). The worst part were the bites on the arch of my driving foot.  Seriously?! Does that happen to anybody but me?!

Thankfully, since Mosquitos love me they avoided Charleigh.  Once we hit Memphis, we stopped for gas and I handed over the keys to Daddy.  This was a blessing because I was able to sit on my feet and numb the pain from the bites.  I had to jump in the back seat a few times to feed Charleigh, but once again she did amazingly well.  I really couldn't ask for a better baby!  (At least in regards to the drive!)

We made good time again and Chase helped us unload the car.  Practically as soon as I got Charleigh inside and Chase laid eyes on her he told me she was pooping.  I laughed it off and continued unloading the car...

I quit laughing, however, when I got her upstairs and found that she'd had yet another blowout in her car seat.  This one required two sets of hands, do Daddy came to help.  Since we were at hone I decided not to throw away her onesie, but it went directly into the laundry pile.  

Once I had Charleigh cleaned up, I took her to Mom's office to visit.  Mom got quite the kick out of parading her around.  After an hour of "show & tell" I headed home to feed her and discuss that nights dinner with Daddy & Chase.   

That was an interesting feed, to say the least.  Charleigh started farting halfway through the bottle and I thought nothing of it.  That is until I felt something warm and squishy in my hands. Yup...another blowout.  Gross.

We ordered pizza, chewed down and called it a night.

Stay tuned for part two...