31 Hours Later

Our trip South was eventful, to say the least. It was also the longest trip we've ever had. We pulled out at 8:30 AM on Wednesday. I immediately had to turn around because we left Sadie's food and water bowls on the front porch. Then, before officially heading out of town, we had to stop and get Caleb some rice milk.

Before we got to South of the Border (which is two hours from our house) we had to stop and make some adjustments with Sadie's seating arrangement. She had to ride in the car with me because there was no room anywhere else. It was all I could do to keep her off of the gear shift! And the poor thing is so big, she had a hard time figuring out how to lay down comfortably. Anyway, it was very frustrating for a little while and I knew it was going to be a looooong drive.

At around 11:15 AM the car got a flat tire! There I was, following Chris when the tire blew out and I was stranded on the side of the highway with two kids and a dog in a small car! I called Chris and told him to turn around and come rescue me. He had to drive a few miles before he could turn around. After about 15 minutes he arrived to where I was. Unfortunately, the spare that was in the trunk was a flat that I got a few weeks ago at church. We forgot to get it fixed. But a flat tire is better than no tire, so Chris put the flat on and we rolled off the highway and into the closest gas station. He bought some fix-a-flat stuff that blew up the tire. Thankfully, we had just passed a Walmart a couple miles back so we got back on the highway and drove to the Walmart. 3 hours, one new tire, a patched tire, lunch and $92 later, we were back on the road.

Approximately 15 minutes into the drive, we ran into some traffic. Of course! Then Sadie starts going nuts, trying to climb out my window and drooling all over the car. About 10 seconds after I had the thought that maybe we should have walked Sadie one more time before we left, she squatted in her seat and proceeded to have the most fragrant bowel movement ever, right there in the car. I pulled off the road immediately. Chris came and took her for a walk while I had the honor of scooping out the poop with napkins and baby wipes. Thank the Lord for baby wipes!! Needless to say, my Yankee Candle air freshener was all the way open and the windows were cracked for a couple hours after that.

We made the decision, that since it was going to be dark soon and we were still in South Carolina, that we needed to stop at a hotel for the night. We made it to exit 5 in SC and stopped at a Days Inn for a (hopefully) good night's sleep.

We enjoyed (and I say that lightly) a free continental breakfast the next morning at were back on the road at around10 AM. The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, although we still had to stop more often than we wanted to because Sadie is mental. But we finally, FINALLY arrived at Chris' parents house at 3:30 that afternoon. Thirty-one long hours after starting our journey.