Thanksgiving Trip pt. 4: Going Home

So the Thanksgiving trip has come to an official conclusion with us returning to Nashville earlier this evening.  Technically as of this writing, it was yesterday, but we all know what I mean by "earlier this evening."  The final day of the trip consisted of us waking up far too early and packing up all our things.  After the goodbyes were said, and a few tears from grandma, we set off for Nashville at around 8 a.m. Eastern time.  We got on the road and things were going smoothly, and then...they continued to go smoothly until we got home.  There was no trouble on the ride home at all.  Little baby Evie slept just about the entire 11 hour trip, after sleeping a solid 7 or so hours during the night before.  Can you imagine sleeping for 18 hours?  That's what my little baby did today.  I didn't think she would sleep the whole time and I figured she would get fed up with the car after a short while, but that never happened.  About an hour outside of Nashville she woke up and was starting to get fussy, but it was time for her to eat, so that solved that.  I can't believe how well she did.

As I said, the drive home took a little longer than Google maps says it should take.  That's because we stopped a few times and took our time getting back into the car when we were finally ready to continue on.  We had to stretch out the legs, both canine, infant, and adult alike.  Somewhere in northern Indiana, we stopped at a Burger King to eat.  After letting the dog go pee, we put him back in the car by himself, which I have never really done before, and if I have done it, it's been years since I did.  I was worried he was just going to freak out and bark at everyone that walked past, so we sat at a booth where I had a clear view of the car and the dog.  If he was going to misbehave, I would be able to see it.  I was surprised to see that he just laid down, at least I couldn't see him, anyway.

So inside the BK Lounge, we needed to change the baby's diaper, but there was no changing table in either bathroom.  This is odd, as every restaurant and store these days has a changing table, at least in the ladies room.  We asked about it, and someone said the manager or whatever didn't want to have a changing table in their place of business because of the "liability."  Are you serious, bro?  That's ridiculous.  So, like any good parent we just changed her right there on the booth.  Screw you, hick Burger King, in your hick town.

One pretty cool thing about this Burger King was that they had this Coke machine for your fountain drinks that would dispense not only Coke products, but also flavor mix-ins, whatever you wanted.  I got a cherry, vanilla Coke Zero.  It was pretty cool.  It said there was over 100 drink combinations you could make out of the thing.  I hope that they get this machine at every Burger King.  I though that was a really good idea.

As we were eating, we put a crown on Evie's head and took pictures.  It was around this moment that I realized that Bowser was being such a good boy in the car, he must be getting into something he shouldn't.  This is also when I remember that left a bag full of Thanksgiving leftovers on the floor of the front seat, right where he is sitting.  Suddenly, visions of mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy strewn about the floor of the passenger seat of our car started flashing across my thoughts, and I figured we better hurry up and go check on him.  Thankfully, he truly was a good boy and just laid on his bed on the passenger seat and waited.  If nothing else this trip helped me understand that our dog has matured and is actually a pretty good dog.  Bowser of 2007 would have been a nightmare on this road trip.  He basically handled everything well, and that's more than I expected.

As we drove through Kentucky, both Bethany and I were so sick of being in the car, but obviously there was nothing we could do about that.  We just trucked on, and made it home with enough time for me to take a nap so I could come into work and be slightly refreshed.  While on the drive I watched the sun rise and then set again.  That's always weird to notice.  I mean, the sun rises and sets everyday, but you usually don't notice it if you're indoors.  This was the first time that I can remember that I actually drove through Kentucky in the daylight, at least most of the way.  We stopped at a Dairy Queen for a diaper change and a snack.  It got dark out while we were in there, so the rest of the trip was in darkness.  It was odd to stop when we were only about 100 miles away from home, but I needed a break.  We all did.


It's funny because I remember thinking at about the time we were crossing into Tennessee, that this whole thing sucked so bad and I was miserable in the car that long.  But now as I sit here thinking about it, I think to myself "it wasn't that bad." Overall, the trip went extremely well.  It gave me confidence that we can travel with this family and everything will be fine. There was some uncharted waters that we had to just endure, and everything went smoothly.  Will it always go smoothly, traveling with this family? I doubt it, but at least this gives me hope that it won't be such a nightmare, and don't avoid traveling altogether in the future out of fear of hell in a Ford Focus.  It was a wonderful trip, and I can't wait to do it again.