Grand Adventure (the sequel)

Two years ago we went on a Grand Adventure

This summer was the sequel.  We road tripped it again from the middle of the country to the west coast for a two week vacation.

Having learned a few things from the first time we made a few adjustments. 

1)  We decided to try driving through the night the first night and stop early in the afternoon the next day to rest up.  this would also make the last day of driving shorter since we would be well over half way. 

2) We moved the kids around from their usual seating arrangements and had the oldest and the youngest in the middle seats (so the oldest would not get as car sick) and the middle kiddos were in the back seat (hoping miss j's constant chattering would be a little quieter from way back there, ha ha)

3) We borrowed a different cargo topper thingy that was a little more aerodynamic and sealed properly so our stuff wouldn't get wet.

4) we took the potty chair for side of the road pit stops. 

SO the story:  (not nearly as exciting as the first time around but I am very okay with that)

We left right after the elder two kiddos Vacation Bible School program at this time:

that would be PM

We utilized the DVD player as it got dark quickly and all kiddos were sleeping by 11pm.... aahhhh quiet and peaceful.  We made great time, only having to stop for gas.  By the time the sun was starting to rise we were almost out of Wyoming.  We stopped at the rest area in Sheridan and saw three huge bucks just hanging out right by the side of the road.  We stopped again at the rest area just past Billings, Montana for breakfast. 

chocolate milk and homemade cinnamon rolls, YUMMY!

I took over the driving for a couple hours so Chad could sleep a bit.  But after only a couple hours we had to stop for gas and then Chad took the wheel again.  I am officially a wimpy driver on road trips.

the rockstar driver

 

Starting to get a little restless we stopped for lunch somewhere past Butte, Montana (i think?)  Kudos to the state of Montana for having awesome rest areas along I90.  They are always clean and park-like. 

picnic - packed ham and cheese buns and fruit from home

We were not far from our destination of Missoula and pretty excited we would be there so early when Miss J let out a scream from the back of the van.  She had swallowed her candy nearly whole and it made her gag.  Chad pulled the van off to the side of the road and I pretty much froze.  I didn't know what to give her plus she was way in the back so I couldn't reach her either, the older kids are yelling "she's gonna puke" and Chad is telling me "give her something." I then remembered there were plastic bags in the back of the van so I ran around to the back of the vehicle and lifted the hatch and as I did her seatmate turned around and said "too late, she puked."

I grabbed some bags, paper towels and baby wipes and 30 minutes later I had her and the carseat fairly cleaned up. (Side note: As I stripped her down we found the candy stuck to her belly button and she still thinks it came out of her belly, not her mouth, ha ha.) We were quite relieved that we had less than an hour to the campground we were staying at as the van had a faint smell about it by this time.  (lovely, no?) 

The rest of the drive went well and we arrived at the Missoula, Montana KOA in the early afternoon (I think at 1:30pm but I was all confused with time changes and Chad switching clocks before we hit the time change and some not, so I think that was the time-ish)

This is where I will end there for today's post.  Next up will be our stay at the campground where I took lots of pictures and then the next day where I took zero pictures. Exciting stuff I tell you!