These are Road Warrior Children

We made it to about 30 west of St. Louis where we had to call it a day. Knowing my personality I would have driven much further because as is the case with most things in my life once I get going it is very difficult for me to stop (this is why gambling and my personality where a match made in hell!). I had three other people to concern myself with and one of those three (my wife) was certainly a person I should listen to. I listened and obey finding a very nice motel along the highway complete with the free breakfast and indoor heated pool.

I suggested that I take the children swimming before going off to dinner to get out some of their pent up energy. My wife was very hungry because there really wasn’t any “real” breakfast or lunch during the day. Since the motel we previously stayed at didn’t have the free breakfast we grabbed something on the go and had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. This wasn’t a very nutritious day and having a nice dinner was paramount. Additionally my wife’s back had been hurting her ever since we started driving from New Jersey so I figured I would give her an hour to herself before we went to dinner.

I took the children downstairs to the so called “heated” indoor pool. Since I believed the pool was indeed heated I just jumped in without feeling the temperature of the water. Much to my surprise the water was borderline freezing and not so much heated. I jumped in which did feel refreshing for about a second before I lost feeling in my feet and yelled, this isn’t heated. My children got a big kick out of this and laughed for a few minutes. We then took turns jumping in and swimming across to the other side. Each of us was reluctant to stay in the water for an extended period of time and when my son jumped in he was shivering from head to toe saying the water “wasn’t bad”.

We had all we could take with the “heated” pool and headed back up to the room where we would change into dry clothes so we could go to dinner. We departed the motel and went to dinner. We had a very nice dinner and made up for the lack of “good” food during the day. I then suggested we get the children ice cream since they were so good in the car. They really were great and are road warriors. They were good two years ago and they are still good on this trip. My son continues to amuse everyone with his comments; as he said in response to my wife refusing to open a game in the car; “first no lunch now this!!” He did state with humor and has such a very good sense of humor. Sometimes this sense of humor goes a little too far but for the most part he was a very funny kid.

We found an ice cream place and the children were treated with ice cream. It was a long driving day but a great day nonetheless. We were indeed making our way west and were now in the middle of the country. I did most of the driving because again I am a control freak and wanted my wife to relax. My wife did drive for a few hours giving my eyes a rest but for the most part I do enjoy driving. I don’t think about much when I am driving just the road and the fact I am finally with my family for the first time in two years. I had been envisioning this trip for some time, in fact two years ago when we were making the reverse trip I had thought about the return.

Life is indeed wonderful and the drive albeit long is wonderful as well. I continue to think about the fact that I have a long way to go to in addressing my character defects. I need to stay present and stay in the moment because this is the way that works for me. This means really staying present and being aware of all my thoughts and actions. It is my actions which will determine my fate in life and these actions have not been so good up until a little over three years ago. I am still behind in really addressing my actions and need to be “checked” each and everyday.

We started off the morning with a very aggressive goal of getting to my sister’s house in the evening. This required a great deal of driving today and we fully briefed the family. The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were made, the cooler stocked and the mini-van still packed to the gills. I have pretty much given up getting out early in the morning because no matter how early I get up it take two more hours to get on the road. It is my fault because I should have gotten up much earlier so we could have departed much earlier but I was tired. I have accepted the fact that it takes us a certain amount of time to get on the road and this is just what it is.

We finally got on the road about an hour later then I had expected but we were driving along Interstate 70 heading from Missouri to Colorado. We made it through Missouri and had a very long day in Kansas. Kansas seemed to last forever and I was amazed to see signs along the freeway for “free land” for business use. There is so much land in Kansas and comparing this to New Jersey and where we live in California the land seemed to go on forever.

The children were once again great and watched many movies during the longest day so far of the trip. My son once again came up with some great comments such as when he asked me how much further we had and I said, “about 6 ½ hours” where my son responded, “that’s not so bad!” I had to laugh because he is so funny and my daughter when asked if she wanted to stop for dinner or take it in the car, “all I want to do is get to my Aunt’s house in Colorado!” They are tried and true road warriors and are my blessings.