There and Back Again

Well, I am now two days back from a trip down to New Jersey to visit my wife's family and friends.

And it was quite interesting, considering I had to drive the entire way with 5 kids in the back.

We started driving down last December 23rd. I had to pick up the rental car from a downtown location (don't ask), drive it all the way home (that took about 30 minutes) and pack everything up. 

Since our two oldest kids sit in "booster car seats" which require them to be buckled up every time someone sits in it, it presented a quite a challenge since the belt buckle was jammed in between the two seats. Every time (and this was quite often since we stopped many times) I had to go from the back of the minivan, reach over, stick my hand down in between the seats, maneuver my other hand with the belt, and make sure that it clicked into place.

During our trip down, it rained almost the entire time, alternating between light rain, heavy rain, and torrential downpour (that would be in northern Pennsylvania). It gets to be quite unnerving seeing the windshield wipers move back and forth before your eyes for 10 hours straight.

I do have to say that the Pennsylvania Welcome Center for tourists on Route 15 in Tioga was one of the nicest rest stops I have ever seen. Government of Ontario, take note next time you feel like spending taxpayers money.

Anyways, on our way down it was getting late, my daughter was upset, and I got on the I-80 without noticing that I went West instead of East. At the next rest stop, I decided to look at its map and noticed that its "You are here" pin was not where I expected it to be. I had gone 22 miles off course! I am generally good with maps and directions so it hurt my pride a bit to make that mistake. Fortunately, there was an exit right after so I was able to do a quick turn around.

For more details, see my wife's post.

To be continued...