Cross Country Adventure Day 5 - May 17, 2009

The shower was tolerable. Actually, it was better than that. The water took some getting used to as it was scalding hot, but it was wet and I was clean and for that, I'll take hot any day!

We crawled into bed. The kind of bed that you wondered if the room was rented by the hour. The kind of bed that when you laid on it, you could hear the rustling of the plastic from the mattress cover. The kind of bed that made thoughts run through your mind of how many prostitutes had laid in the exact same spot or how many murders had happened upon this very room. The kind of bed and the kind of room that if you weren't sleep deprived and absolutely desperate for a bed to rest your head on and the ability to slumber even if for only a half dozen hours, you would consider bolting quickly.

But what really mattered most at that point...I was laying in the arms of the man that I love. The strong hold, yet exhausted, of a man that I admire, that I love that I want to be with. That through all the turmoil of his family, the stress of the pre-trip and the trip itself, that we had made it through more than half of the journey, together. That there were bumps along the road, but we had worked it out. That at the end of the night, it didn't matter where it was that we laid, in some small hick town in Missouri in a side of the road motel, we were together. And that truly was all that mattered.

JC can fall asleep on a dime. He can mention he's getting tired or sleepy and no joke, within 30 seconds he's out. Me on the other hand, I'm lucky if it's 30 minutes! But, fortunately I was so exhausted, I fell asleep quickly too. Well, that is after we had issues with the air conditioner and JC had to get out of bed several times!

The alarm went off at 6:00a.m. which was followed by our all to familiar banging on the door by his sister D. We quickly got up, got dressed and took our bags to the car. We were ready to leave within 8 minutes of the alarm. Needless to say, no one else was, but I have to give them credit, we left within 20 minutes.

Since we had fueled up the vehicles the night before, we hit the highway and headed north toward home. We stopped at the first stop about 175 miles away. We fueled up at the truck stop. JC walked inside to purchase a beverage while I waited in the U-haul for him and was ready to move on out. His mom approached the U-haul and asked for JC. I mentioned that he was inside buying a drink and she said that we needed to move the U-haul because they were stopping for breakfast. What?

So not only did they not want to get a hotel, but now after three hours on the road we needed to stop for a sit down breakfast? I personally had told JC that we should stay in the hotel and let them drive off. We would catch up to them with all of their stops. He said that wasn't a viable option as we had the tools and JC had the ability to fix a vehicle if anything happened. We would continue to caravan, regardless.

I attempted to move the U-haul and park it, without success. I called JC and he had to come and move it. Just didn't see the purpose to take out any parked vehicles, especially so close to the trip being over!

JC and I walked into the restaurant together and sat down at the table. There was a buffet and all but three of us ordered the buffet. Dad commented on my ability to drive the U-haul and said that he was impressed with my driving skills given it was my first time. D sat kitty-corner across from me and told stories while looking at me, but not really talking to me. Of course most of the stories were there horror stories of the hotel. Mom stated it was the worst hotel she had stayed in...EVER. Grandma apparently tore off all the bedding and searched for bugs. The nephew found a bug in the shower and didn't know if it was a spider or a roach which freaked out D. Their room also didn't have a remote for the t.v. And on and on their bitching went.

I admit that at the beginning of this post, I bitched about the hotel. Although, I would say that I was clarifying the hotel/motel more than complaining. But, I would never complain in front of others like that, especially if it was someone else's idea. Regardless. Mom's house was horribly dirty and nasty. I would never live there, but she can say that was the worst place she had ever stayed. Personally, I was more comfortable there than in the bed at their house! But, I knew that they would complain, because honestly that is what this family does best. They are disorganized, point the finger blaming type that does nothing better than bitch, argue and disagree. They clearly do not enjoy the comfort of each other's company. They had no intention of making this trip a positive one. We were on a mission...and if relationships were severed or feelings hurt, so be it. We had to get home.

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful. D continued to blaze her own path, despite what she suggested since dad was even more weary and we had to slow down. Finally pulling over at a rest area, D took over driving for dad for the remainder of the ride home.

The arrangements were for us to take the U-haul directly to JC's house. That way we didn't have to worry about how we would get home. The brother-in-law's wife (the other sister) welcomed us over for sloppy joes when we got home, which JC declined. We had had enough family.

All in all, the trip from the time we left Bullhead Arizona to the time we arrived in JC's driveway was just over 2000 miles and 54 hours. From my calculations, we spent 42 of those hours driving, so we did manage to stop for 12 hours for the night at the hotel and the night before, although they weren't all sleeping hours. The 12 hours were hours in between stopping for the night while the 42 hours weren't all road hours, they included from the time we got in the vehicles in the morning to the time we stopped for the evening, regardless of the duration.

We survived. Granted JC and I spent a great majority of the next 18 hours in bed, both having called in sick to work that Monday. Clearly, if the trip had been better planned (if I had planned it!) it would have included ample rest that wouldn't have required a full day of recuperation and would have included some nice stops en route. Then again, if I had planned it, JC and I would have done the trip ALONE.