We decided to drive home on Friday, March 27th, leaving at 4am. On Thursday, while Jeff and I were trying to figure out strategies to make the drive as smooth and painless as possible, we hatched a new plan: leave at bedtime on Thursday night! It seemed like a great idea, eliminating the difficulty of waking up tired kids and herding them to toilet and then to the car. We would also avoid early morning lingering tearful goodbyes between the cute cousins. Obviously the sacrifice of staying up all night was not going to be easy, but we felt that the benefits outweighed the inconveniences. The drive was so long that we'd be driving plenty of time in the dark no matter when we left, so it was decided. We'd leave at 8pm Thursday night. Google Maps said the drive would take 17 hours 40 minutes straight through.
Thursday afternoon, my mom and I went to the grocery store to purchase road trip munchies. Jeff requested gummy peach rings and Coca Cola. I chose Rasinettes and peanut butter sandwich crackers. I know, weird snacks all around. Desperate times call for default faves. Our awesome, kitchen-savvy brother-in-law Braxton baked us a special batch of his massive delectable chocolate chip cherry-pecan cookies. I made a stack of PBJs for the kids and obtained a bag of animal crackers. We were braced for an all-nighter.
Before we hit the road, we had homemade pizza as a last supper in Denver. Rose ate too much and felt sick. The girl is so enthusiastic that when the food is good, she often eats too fast for her stomach to detect full-ness. Jeff gave her a tums, but she immediately started gagging on it and threw up her entire dinner, barely making it to the nearest bathroom sink. To clean up, I had to scoop the puke out of the sink and dump it into the toilet using a paper cup, since the chunks clogged the sink drain. I wore rubber gloves and held my breath, taking frequent breathers by poking my nose outside of the bathroom. It was a foul preamble to our 18 hour road trip. Thankfully Rose did not puke while we were in the car. Once was enough.
We left Denver at 8:15pm (we were ready to go at 8, but then puke happened). We arrived home in Sunnyside at 12:45pm--with the time zone change, that equals out to 17 hours and 30 minutes door to door. What a drive. We made excellent time, even though Jeff stopped at 7am to go on a run! It was agony staying awake to drive all night, even though Jeff and I took turns. Jeff still did well over half of the driving. I was a total weak link wimp on this drive after my two weeks of staying up late with my mom and sisters.
Somewhere around Cheyenne, it started snowing hard and blowing horizontally. We checked the weather radar and forecast, and saw that the official snowstorm wasn't set to begin until 6am the following morning. The nighttime snow was only supposed to last for 20 minutes. So we persevered, me trying my best to swallow my snow-driving-anxiety while Jeff soldiered ahead at the wheel. Thankfully the forecast was correct and the snow soon ended. Jeff and I were slightly in awe of the fact that we had even thought to leave 8 hours earlier than our original plan. We've never done an all-night drive before, but somehow it felt like a good idea. If we had left at 4am, we would have been driving past Cheyenne right when the snowstorm started!
Jeff drove for the first six hours straight, then crumpled into the passenger seat while I opened my Raisinettes and took the wheel for the graveyard shift. Even though I had dozed off and on while Jeff drove, it was still tough going. I lasted almost 3 hours before admitting defeat. At 7am, we stopped for Jeff to run 3 miles (to help him wake up!) in Idaho while I got the kids egg McMuffins for breakfast. The rest of our drive involved Jeff and I driving to our sleepy limits and then switching. The details are fuzzy. Suffice it to say that it was a major feat of endurance getting home all in one go. Three hours from home when we stopped for gas somewhere in Oregon, Jeff got a bottle of Coke and a bag of Twizzlers, and committed to getting us all the way home. Bless his heart (and his poor stomach), we made it (thanks to plastic-y sugar and caffeine).
It was weird arriving home so tired so early in the day. It was barely after 1pm when we finished unloading the car! I was craving nourishing comfort food after a long night of eating weird snacks to stay awake. So Friday afternoon, after some rest, I made a double batch of bread and a massive pot of chicken chowder for dinner. Both turned out deliciously. Good simple food and lots of sleep were just what we needed!
DENVERUNNING pictures:
Random random random landscaping accessory: a British phone booth?
Narrow subterranean pedestrian tunnels creep me out!
Always with the rugged Rocky Mountain skyline.
The geese were very bold and barely stepped aside as I jogged past.
Spring snowstorm! The snow was so deep and pretty.
Running along the Highline Canal was exhausting. I waded and wallowed in nearly a foot of snow for 2 miles before heading back onto more groomed pathways.
The thick snow-blow against the trees made me glad I waited to run until after the storm ended.
The trees were so weighed down with heavy snow that I had to bend nearly double to get under some areas along the trail, when sans-snow I could run under the branches completely upright.
Fluffy snow-coated pine trees are always a favorite.
The city shoveled not only the roads, but also the sidewalks!
Evidence of my deep snow-wallow-run.
Home sweet chateau.
Rose got her own exercise in using my Dad's equipment in the basement.
The sun came out and the view was glory.
These bone-white branches against the blue blue sky gave me a thrill.
High coyotes? Only in Colorado. Recreational marijuana for man and beast alike. I made myself laugh so hard when I ran past this sign.
Some dedicated individuals built this massive igloo in a park I ran past. I didn't go inside because I wasn't in the mood to crawl in the snow with my thin running pants, but it was an excellent igloo.
The snow melted SO fast under that blazing high altitude Colorado sunshine.
Tranquil nature preserve.
That sun seriously was intense.
Large lovely houses with a pleasant path winding between them.
Above and below: same trail, six days apart. (almost the same location--it was hard to find the exact same view)
The drive HOME:
It is good to be home.
1 comment:
You guys were TROOPERS!
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