I had spent most of the day Saturday cleaning the house and packing and doing laundry. Getting movies, cd’s, books on tape and food together for the trip. Packed each child a bag and one for myself as well. He had said at one point he wanted to leave at 3am, but then readjusted the departure time to 6am. Barstow wasn’t that far and we’d get there in the early afternoon with plenty of time to swim.
Sunday morning came and everything went smoothly. Everything and everyone was in the car and it didn’t feel overstuffed. We had plenty of room for the random things that get purchased on a vacation that then have to be brought home. Son wasn’t too sure about the trip. He kept telling us he didn’t want to go to the beach, he was scared there would be sharks. We assured him there wouldn’t be any sharks, but he didn’t agree. He suggested over places of destination. Oregon so he could see his friend Alice, or go to Aunt Brandi’s. We always go to Aunt Brandi’s, why wouldn’t we this time.
The drive wasn’t too eventful. I had bought headphones and a splitter so the kids could watch movies on the DVD player and we wouldn’t have to hear it. I soon learned that Daughter #2 didn’t travel the same as her older siblings did when they were little. With them once we got in the car they’d sleep for hours, wake up when the car stopped etc. Not her, she stuck to her 2-3 hour feeding schedule! She’d wake up, and be hungry. I’d have to reach around and tide her off with a binky, and then my finger till she became inconsolable, but that would usually corrolate with a food or gas or potty stop.
We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch. Just for future reference for anyone that might be traveling through the area with kids there is only one fast food place in Flagstaff with a kid’s playplace. Del Taco. It’s easy to find. I knew this from a previous trip so I made sure to inform my hubby as he was driving. The weather was beautiful there, there was a cool breeze in the air, but it was only 11:30am or so. It warmed up.
We watched the outside temp gage on our car’s dash as we drove further West. 75 degrees, 85, 95. Kingman, Arizona-105 degrees! We didn’t realize when we set out that we’d be going to California during their week of sizzling-record breaking temperatures. Needles, California-109 degrees! We saw the Colorado River, people boating and swimming. We felt a twang of sadness in our hearts for the days when we’d play on Lake Powell. That is the Colorado River you know!
As we got closer to Barstow I started to notice a haze in the air. Having never been to Southern California and hearing so much about the Smog (Haze is the politically correct term now I guess) I assumed this was what I was seeing. (Actually it was smoke in the air from the fires near Big Bear).
Any time I hear the word Barstow I immediately think of the movie ‘Erin Brokovich’, although it didn’t take place IN Barstow, the county courthouse was there. The little town that centered around the movie was Hinkley. I had gotten some movie passes at work to see a sneak preview of that movie when we were first married. We liked it, but my hubby liked it more because it took place in his mission.
Well we got there, and drove around looking for our hotel. Like a lot of the old towns that are on “Old Route 66″ the town looks kinda like a barbell. To big ends with just the old 66 connecting. We drove around the east end when we finally stopped and asked someone where our hotel was. It was on the west end of town. Of course. We had been biding our time with the hungry tired kids with promises of swimming in the pool. Sadly, when we checked in, their pool was empty under construction for resurfacing. The kids were upset and we were very disappointed and frustrated that our promise of swimming was broken.
The west end of town was where the outlet malls were. There were also tons of food places, including an In N’ Out. We, the parents, were excited about this. The kids just wanted the regular; chicken nuggets and a McDonald’s playplace. We’ve learned with our kids, that’s its just easier to do both. We, the parents, will eat at one place, keep the kids happy with promises of going to the golden arches. Then we go to Mickey D’s where they eat and we watch them play satisfied with our yummy food we ate before. We stayed there till it got dark and then walked back to our hotel room.
The kids were way too excited to go to sleep, as well as the fact they both fell asleep in the car the last hour or so to Barstow. They played in the tub, they jumped on the beds, they spun each other around in the desk chair. The baby was absolutely exhausted, crying and crying. Nothing seemed to soothe her. I gave her a bath, put her in jamas, and wrapped her up tight in a blanket. She looked like a little papoose baby. She ate and then finally fell asleep, still wrapped like a little burrito baby.
The funniest part of the night was after the lights turned out. We had two queens, the boys on one bed, the girls on the other. Daughter #1 had bounced between the two beds, but before finally settling with me she had been lying with daddy. It was quiet for a few seconds, and then she let out a big loud heavy sigh and announced “not asleep yet”. We all busted up laughing.
We needed to get some sleep for the next day’s events, but luckily we went from Mountain to Pacific time, so any time we woke up would be considered “sleeping in”.
