Home at last

0650 - Wake up. It really is 0650 this time (after yesterday's confusion with my watch being off by an hour).

0715 - It must be time to go home; we are out of clean clothes. I ask "Who wants to go home?" Felisa says no.

Me: " You want to keep driving in the car every day forever and ever?"
Felisa: "Yes!"
Me: "You're crazy!"

0730 - Checking out. The sun is just coming up over the mountain. Or maybe it is just a big hill... I think I must be in a hurry to get home.

0800 - Stop at Burger King in Cleveland, TN. The service is excrutiatingly slow... there are only two people working inside. I remember those days when I worked as an opener at BK - only two people to run the whole show until about 7:00 when the reinforcements arrived. The customers always arrived in batches and we ran around like crazy trying to take care of everyone at once, drive-thru and front counter. Looks like this lady's reinforcements have called in sick!

0813 - Gas, $2.66/gallon

0954 - Pass a billboard for Tina's Scrapbook Creations

1053 - Virginia!!!

1056 - Almost got a ticket. Whew, that was close! Wouldn't that just suck to drive through 17 states without incident and get a ticket when I finally get back to VA?!? The cop pulled over someone else instead. That's not very nice really - the speed limit in VA is 65 and it was 70 in TN. I'm not sure I even saw a speed limit sign with the lower limit before I saw that cop sitting there, right on the border.

1100 - Pass the Classic Scrapbook Too store in Bristol, VA.

12:23 pm - Stop in Pulaski, VA. The billboard on the highway said that this McD's had an indoor playplace. FALSE ADVERTISING - there was no playplace, indoors or out. So we went to Wendy's instead. Both places had a line practically out the door so we had to wait a long time for lunch. Must be bad luck for food day, since we had to wait so long for breakfast also.

1:13 pm - Leave Wendy's. Gas, $2.79/gallon. Miles today 308.8. Total for the trip so far, 5046. We have about 250 miles to go.

3:45 pm - Stop at the rest area. The bathroom is closed. That seems like something they should have posted on the sign before you exit the highway! We get out to stretch our legs anyway. We met a very cute boxer puppy, Tyson, who is 7 weeks old. On the way back to the car, Felisa was running her hand along the orange construction fence surrounding the restrooms and ended up with a cut.

4:00 pm - Leave the rest area. Snacks, drinks, and a movie (Stitch - again!)

5:18 pm - Manassas. Time to start thinking about real life again. I've got 6 kid birthdays, including Bella's, in the next 2 months.

5:29 pm - We must be back in the city - we're stuck in a traffic jam.

5:34 pm - Home Sweet Home.

Total miles: 5,314

We check out the redecorating Ron has done in our abscence. The TV room looks really good. The master bedroom needs to go back to the way it was. The toys need to be cleaned out and cleaned up.

Emilio is unloading already - I told him he's supposed to take a break first but he says he had a break - sitting in the car for 3 days!

Grandma and Grandpa D stop by so the girls take off for an evening with Grandma.

I hang out upstairs, checking email and catching up on blogs. Definitely ignoring the real life outside my door.

S stops by for a visit. I haven't seen her since early July. Once again we managed to have back-to-back trips with a small overlap which makes the separation longer. We really need to work on that for next year... :)

Go to Arties for a late dinner. Find out Ron was cheating on me - went to Arties alone while I was gone. I told him he's only allowed to go with me or with other people! Saw Bill and Christy eating at the bar as we were leaving so I was able to catch up with them briefly before heading home to collapse into bed.

I'm tired!