travel karma

I have seriously bad travel karma.  I do not say that to garner sympathy.  It is just a simple fact of my life.  I know people who will not travel with me.  They will go places with me but they just meet me there.  They will not travel with me. 

I hate to fly.  I hate roller coaster rides and I hate to fly.  So I avoid it whenever possible.  So that means I drive when we go on vacation -- unless it is not a realistic option.  So I have spent the last 2 days driving.  Luckily, Ladybug is a good car rider -- once I understood that she actually does get car sick and must have medication to avoid this.

We started out on our trip yesterday morning.  I planned to be on the road at 6am but we actually made it on the road at 7am.  One of the good things about driving is that there is flexibility.  I normally take highway A from my house to highway B and then continue on.  At the last minute yesterday I decided to take highway C to highway B.  This required me to take a bunch of back roads first.  I hit every single possible red light for the first 30 minutes of the trip.  I would have been banging my head on a brick wall -- if I had packed one.  At the last red light I was thinking that I had made a stupid mistake when I heard a traffic report that said that highway A was a parking lot all the way to highway B.  Score one for Mean Mama!

For the first 45 minutes of the trip I kept turning around and looking at Ladybug.  She seemed different.  She wasn't sitting right.  And it didn't look comfortable.  Something was different.  But I couldn't put my finger on it.  Finally after 45 minutes -- and about 20 minutes on highway C my light bulb went off and I spun my head around and looked.  She did not have her seat belt on!  Worst mommy moment ever.  Are you kidding me???  How did I forget this (and yes, it is my responsibility since she can not reach about her bulking car seat and buckle the belt herself).  I always remember.  There was a rest stop 2 miles down the road and I held my breath.  Mean Mama's score dropped dramamtically.

Before heading out the door I made an iced chair latte for myself -- one of my weaknesses.  I thought it would help with my long (14 hours was planned for this day but I worried it would be longer considering it was the Friday of a holiday weekend) car trip.  After I successfully buckled Ladybug at the rest stop I took a moment and took my first long sip of my favorite drink.  Apparently I had neglected to rinse out the soap from my cup that morning before putting the latte in it.  So all I tasted was soap.  Yuck!!!!  I think my score is in the negative now.

Please tell me this is not how the trip is going to go!

The good news is that I made it.  In 14 hours.  With no further mishaps.  No major traffic delays.  No puke.  No fits.  We arrived...tired but happy and in one piece.

We played this morning then got back in the car and drove another 5 hours.  No mishaps.  No problems.  And arrived this evening.  Travel karma is good to this time.  Let the vacation begin!

But I am exhausted.  I have typed this post with my eyes closed.  So if there are errors that is why.

The grandfather clock is telling me it is way past my bedtime... 

Mean Mama