Each of the last two weekends, we've packed up the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and headed out on the road.
The clothes for my wife and I fit comfortably in one suitcase. The clothes for our 1/12th year old fit snugly in a suitcase of their own.
I mean, how do you pack for a week? Will he pee through no onesies on the trip, or fifty onesies? What if the hotel room is really cold? Should we bring a bathing suit and waterproof Pampers? What vital item did we forget to pack?
I suppose this is the easiest time to travel. He doesn't need to stop to go to the bathroom. He'll cry when he really needs something. If he's not crying, he's sleeping.
The first leg of the journey took us to Appleton, Wisconsin. Fun fact about Appleton...the TV character Edna "Mrs. G" Garrett (Facts of Life) grew up on a farm outside of Appleton. The Dude was great through Ohio; great through our lunch stop in Indiana; freaked out in northwest Indiana, causing us to stop; awesome through Chicago; pretty good during our Outlet Malling; awful through the last leg, turning a 2.5 hr drive into a 4 hour nightmare.
The return trip was great...The Dude was well behaved. At one point, we promised him that if he didn't cry, we would buy him a car when he was 16. We lied. But, he didn't cry.
Trip two was a "Meet The Dude" excursion to my hometown. The two hour trip seemed like a quick trip to the store compared to the eight (okay, twelve) hour pilgrimage to America's Dairyland.
I'm not sure anything unites a family more than a newborn.
The trip back home was fine, too. First of many trips to the homeland for The Dude.
Tips for future successful car trips: Aleve for me. Earplugs for me. That's about it.
