On The Road Again

In the past two months we've been traveling... A Lot.  And we haven't been able to afford the luxury or the excitement of a full body pat down at the airport. For various reasons (and it obviously wasn't to save money on gas) we've been driving.  Which means we've been experiencing the joys of truckstop bathrooms and near misses with deer, elk, fox, rabbit, squirrel, and vermon (to name a few). From a few days in Steamboat, then Colorado to Texas (and back), and then Colorado to San Francisco, and a weekend in Fresno (with 1.5 hours sitting in traffic), we've put more than a couple thousand miles on the car and thoroughly broken in the new big-boy car seat at this point.  In fact, one of the first "joys"  of our 11 hour drive to BFE, Texas was when Landon's diaper decided to leak and soaked his seat (brand new at the time) with urine... fun.  After a wardrobe change and wipe down, we hit the road again with a towel (slightly damp, but the best we could do at the time) for Landon to sit on for the remaining 8 hours. He (we) survived.

For reasons that most don't understand, I will be continuing to add to the total hours and miles tomorrow with another 10+ hour drive from San Francisco to Portland, returning later in the week to turn around and head to Tahoe (3-4 hours each way).  And then in a few more weeks we turn around to drive back from San Francisco to Colorado and will contemplate wether or not we can handle another trip to Texas by mid-August.  (Anyone have a private plane and a pilot with some time to spare?)

 What has been learned in all of this road-tripping?

• My sanity is stronger than I thought.
• Starbucks employees who "didn't have their coffee yet", don't really have a good excuse. 
• I don't really care if the pacifier is supposed to be done-with by now. It is an essential part of our survival in the car.
• California is home of the bad drivers and even worse grocery cart operators?
• Worst place in U.S. to be wildlife: Texas. Worst place in U.S. to be a human: Wyoming ... and Texas (they're tied at this point).  Although I'd probably do Meth too if I had to live in Wyoming and Texas would most likely only result in my downward spiral into obesity and big truck ownership.