How to Survive a 17-Hour Road Trip with Two Little Kids

3,176 miles, give or take a few.

48 hours – drive time.

12 or 13 states.

5 destinations.

4 years married.  {further testing our marriage with this trip!}

2 kids.

1 little Honda Fit car.  oh yeah!

Why yes, we are crazy.  Oh, did I not mention that before?  Just think, what an ADVENTURE it will be!!!!

The Long Stretch – 17 Hours

We are finishing up our last hour of this drive, the longest leg of our trip.  Just over 1,000 miles; 17 hours of drive time.  Memorable tidbits from the trip include:

• We were going to take a picture by each “Welcome to…” sign as we crossed into a new state.  We saw them too late to stop, it was chilly and rainy out, kids were sleeping and do we really want to wake them?  (No.)  Never mind about cool pictures with state signs!
• Kum&Go (gas station) app = two FREE drinks worth $3 each!



• I am sick of pumping and washing out pump parts and bottles.
• Pacifiers are ear-savers.  Also, blanket snuggled by her face.  We have figured out all the tricks!  Praise God she hasn’t cried too much!  (I was really worried about this, so this is a huge praise!)
• They both slept great for the night!
• We ate pizza in the car.  Yes, our toddler too!  …Twice!



• We drove all night.  I got about an hour and a half of sleep; Ben got half that.
• “The darkest part of the night is just before the dawn” –quote by ?? I kept thinking of this at 5:30am when we were wishing it would hurry and get light out soon!
• We drove really close by where we honeymooned in Gatlinburg, TN and the Smoky Mountains!  Special memories!  Wish we had an extra day or two to stay again… 🙂

• When we make a stop and get out of the car, Olaf waves at every single vehicle that goes by!  Too cute!
• He likes to read board books.
• Gas was $2.09 up to $2.36/gallon
• The last 4 hours time just drags.

Southern Hospitality

When we crossed the state line into Tennessee we seemed to enter the land of southern hospitality!  We also hit culture shock.  The accents, people!  More on that in a minute.

Ben ran in to the grocery store to pick up some breakfast items… the cashier was in no hurry at all and proceeded to have a five minute conversation and was insistent that even though we were just passing through, she could sign us up for a Food City ValuCard, which she did and saved us a dollar!  Super sweet, and all with that southern drawl.

The gentleman at Taco Bell asked Ben what his name was.

“Ben.”

“What?”

“Ben.”

“What?”

“BEN.”

“Ohhhh, Beh-in!”  (two syllables)

The next place we stopped, for additional breakfast, I overheard the counter gal call an older gentlemen “Honey,” as in, “Thah ya go, Honey.”  I pointed that out to Ben and he said, “Oh yeah, she called me that too.”  Umm….

So at McDonald’s for lunch, Ben thought I should have the experience of some of this awesome ‘southern hospitality’!  I ordered two McDoubles, a large fries, and a glass for water.  He rang up the water… and charged for it!  I asked, “Does the water cost?”  As if I were stupid, he said, “NOTHIN’ is free!”

Well, ok then. 😛

Southern Drawl

People here look normal.  Until they open their mouths!  Then it’s like I’ve entered some country where they speak a foreign language.  I feel like an outsider and don’t want to open MY mouth for fear of sounding weird!  It’s all I can do to keep from busting out laughing every time they chop the ends off their words!  Ben has to ask, “What?” all the time!  It’s HILARIOUS!  We didn’t notice it so much on our honeymoon… guess we must not have interacted with very many other people! 😉

For example:  “Do ya wan’ ho’ o’ mil’?”  (Translation: Do you want hot or mild… picante sauce, it was.)

I keep thinking of the Robertsons from Duck Dynasty.  And little kids?  They’re the cutest thangs with their little twang, ya’ll!

We are going to have so much fun!  And WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!!!  Our 6-hour drive at the end of this weekend?  Seems like nothin’ now!