Illinois or Bust

With Josh away, time has moved slow around the house.  Sure we're still going about our daily routine but in the back of our minds time is being measured by how many more days till he's home.  I guess one of the blessings of deployments is we are able to take a few extended vacations without too much worries.  So in hopes of time going a bit faster, Mara and I decided to head north and visit with family for a bit.

Aunt Mary flew down to North Carolina on Tuesday and we went into the airport to pick her up.  Bless her heart she had volunteered to do all the driving for us on the trip.  That day we did all the last minute things we needed to do, packed up the car and dropped Buddy off at his home away from home.  The plan was to wake up when Mara did that next morning and simply put her into the car (after feeding) and take off.  We were planning on at least two days on the road but not sure where we were going to stop for the night.  Basically we thought we'd be on Mara's terms and just see where the road took us!

Passed our after playing

Well 4 am came around, I grabbed Mara and deposited her (awake) into her car seat and we were off! Thankfully she soon drifted back to sleep and I was able to take a quick snooze as well.  What felt like a blink of an eye, we were in West Virginia!  Mara was up for the morning and in good spirits.  We took a quick bathroom and gas break and were on the road again.

Soon after crossing the border into Ohio we were starting to get a big heads.  How were we this far already?!  It was only mid-day!  We pulled into Chillicothe, OH for some lunch and a break.  Mara soaked it in smiling and laughing at everyone in the restaurant.  She easily went back in her seat and we were off!

All of a sudden we were in Dayton, my proposed stop for the night, but it was only 2 pm so we pushed on.  Mara was still in amazing spirits laughing and talking non-stop.  As Aunt Mary drove, we sung songs, played with toys and even skyped with Daddy in Afghanistan!

Crossing into IL and getting a little slap happy

Around 4 pm we were passing through Indy and the craving of real beds was entering our heads.  Could we really drive the entire trip in one day?  We had been on the road 12 hours but Mara was still doing great.  We'll take it city by city we decided.  If she melts down we'll stop.

Enter her afternoon nap.  2 hours of pure bliss and uninterrupted driving.  Just enough time to finally seal the deal.  We were hours from our destination.  There was no stopping.  

At 7:15 after 16 hours on the road we pulled into my parents.  I don't think I've ever been happier to get out of a car in my life.  I am still shocked and amazed that we did it.  900 miles, 6 states, 5 stops along the way, 2 crazy adults, 1 10 month old and lots of snacks.  Pure insanity.

Even Mara was happy to sleep in a real bed!