Notes from the road

We made it home yesterday about dinner time after two long days of driving. Everything was fine at home and we are grateful for our house sitter who kept all the animals alive and well. Kenzie did not make things easy for her, poor anxious, old dog. But even that was navigated. Some thoughts about our trip.

• Traveling with children ages 13 and up is a whole different thing from traveling with younger children. Everyone did great and I don't think we heard the question, "Are we there yet?" even once.
• Traveling with children ages 13 and up means that sometimes someone will have a moment. The trick is to let them have their moment and don't let it ruin the day. Recovery usually comes more quickly if it is not made into a big deal.
• Over the years we have driven to Arizona more than a few times, often along the route which followed old Route 66. I thought this particular route had its share of traveling kitsch. Well... I-90 wins hands down, particularly the stretch heading west through South Dakota. So many billboards advertising so many side of the road museums and "sights". 
• Speaking of tourist traps sights, we did not stop at either the Corn Palace or at Wall Drug. Well, actually, we would have stopped at Wall Drug if it had been open, but it seems if you pass through Wall, SD at 9:00 at night, you missed your opportunity. K. was the only one disappointed, but buying snacks and soda is his jam.
• Some children were more than a little annoyed by the signs at the South Dakota rest stops telling people that there were poisonous snakes in the area. You clearly do no live with reptile loving children if you do not know why they were annoyed. Snakes are venomous, not poisonous. J. tried to suggest that the sign was warning people not to eat the snakes because maybe then they would be poisonous. That suggestion was met with a "look". 
• It is so interesting to see how each state sets up their rest areas. What I found interesting was that east of the Mississippi, most rest areas had recycling bins as well as garbage bins. West of the Mississippi? Well, it seems news of the concept of recycling hasn't reached those states yet.
• We ate a total of two meals at restaurants, which I hoped saved our budget enough to cover the extreme cost of fuel. (More on that in a moment.) One was the meal I mentioned celebrating P.'s birthday and our last night in Yellowstone, the other was a fast food meal eaten in the car because we hours to go before we got to our hotel. We even ate dinner in the hotel rooms on the way out. The only food we had to purchase was some milk and orange juice and cans of biscuits because we weren't baking.
• Do not try to travel with pop-up cans of biscuits as you go up in altitude. If you do, you will open your cooler to discover they have all popped open.
• Do travel with a large hunk of frozen meat. Not only will it keep everything cold for days, but will feed your family for several meals. We picked a ham, but a turkey would work equally well. 
• When the owner of your house rental assures you that the spice cupboard is well stocked, bring your own spices anyway. Because "well stocked" actually means that there are multiple containers of garlic powder, salt, and pepper, with a couple of other tiny containers of a few other spices, but not the ones you were hoping to find.
• If you tend to use out-sized pots, go ahead and throw them in the car because you will need them. The largest pot that the house has will seem laughably small. 
• The other items you should throw is are either a couple of good knives if you feel particular about knives (or at least a knife sharpener) and a decent vegetable peeler. I have never tried to use such dull implements in my life. If this is what is found in some kitchens, no wonder some people think they can't cook. I couldn't either with those tools!
• Fuel costs... we were appalled, astonished, vaguely queasy about the cost of gasoline in the Yellowstone area. In general, it tended to average around $4.99/gallon, which was about $1.50 more than we paid anywhere else. It wouldn't have been too bad except that Yellowstone requires an immense of driving to see everything. Did I mention the van holds 30 gallons and doesn't get great gas mileage? 
• I have piles of receipts that I have shoved in my desk and will deal with on Friday. I am not looking forward to it.
• Our van made the trip without any issues! It's a 1995 and has seen hard use, driving across the country more than once. We put quite a bit of money (that I wasn't planning for) into getting it road worthy before we left. (Actually, it was the absolute bare minimum that we could get away with fixing. The place we go to has become very good at fixing only the most important things from the dozens that could be on the list.) Both J. and I were a little bit nervous about whether the van could handle one more trip or would we be twiddling our thumbs by the side of the road. I spoke very nicely to the van through the whole trip and gave it encouraging pats. It really has been a faithful vehicle, but this is probably the last big trip that it can actually manage. 
• Finally, I thought I would share how mileage for this trip compares to other distances. I find it interesting to compare how distances differ from country to country. This trip was ~1330 miles one way. (A little shorter than our trips to Arizona which is about 400 miles longer.) So how does this compare to other places?
• London to John o'Groats - 815 miles
• Lisbon, Portugal to Paris - 1078 miles
• Tip of South Africa to northern border - 994 miles
• Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi - 700 miles
• Beijing to Shanghai - 750 miles
• Beijing to Urumqi - 1500 miles 
• The height of Egypt - 880 miles
• Sydney to Perth, Australia - 2044 miles
• Lima to Rio de Janeiro - 3011 miles
• It was a lot of driving. 
• We had a great time and are so happy that we were able to take part of our family on this trip.