Whew!! We made it! It was not a terrible trip, either. It really helped that we had the older kids split up between the Budget truck and my van. Our kids are really very good little travelers. But it was funny how underwhelmed they were with all of the scenery we drove through each day. We had really gorgeous driving weather; except after lunch on Monday when we drove through a monsoon. (Traffic slowed to 10mph on the interstate.) But back to the beginning for all the details you might want to know about our trip.

We didn't end up leaving Hartselle until around 2:00 on Sunday. My sister (Aunt Kiki) had prepared wonderful goodie bags for the kids with little treats at each 100 mile mark. So the kids had something fun to look forward to and count down the miles. The first goodie was a travel activity book which had a license plate sticker game in it. It had stickers for all 50 states plus Washington DC and a map to place them on when you saw a tag from each state. By the time we reached Belmont, Rachel had finished almost all 51. We even saw a tag from Hawaii!!!! We drove to Bristol, TN (just south of the Virginia border) to spend the night.

The next day was our longest: from Bristol,TN to Scranton, PA. Between searching for license tags for Rachel, Tim and I passed the time playing Cows and Graveyards (he stomped me). This day was an eventful one because it was our last one in the South. At breakfast, Tim made Rachel try grits because the day before she had asked what grits were. She was unimpressed. We crossed the Mason Dixon line and were appropriately sad. We got to Scranton and let the kids bleed off some energy in the pool. The next morning was beautiful, sunny and cool - my favorite kind of weather.

Day three of our road trip was the most maddning. We started off the day with a construction detour which put us wandering in the Poconos for about 30 minutes. But Tim finally got us back on track. Then we had trouble with our pit stops - one service station had no bathroom, one was a mile off the interstate and then had gas for $3.19, and our lunch break at McDonalds with a playplace for the kids to stretch their legs where the playplace was closed for repairs. When we got to Hartford, CT we ran into rush hour traffic and were slowed down for about 45 minutes. But we finally arrived in Belmont Tuesday night about 7:00. We let the kids go in and see the house, then walked down the block to a little family pizza place for dinner.

Now we are trying to settle in and see as much as we can see before Tim starts classes on Monday. I'll fill you in on that next time!
God bless you all!!
Sonja