Sunday, February 20, 2011

where the wind comes chasing down the plain

And ... we're in Oklahoma. After the first day, where the last three hours of the trip took a little over 7 hours and at one point I thought I was going to inadvertently Ferberize Baby J, we decided that getting to Phoenix in three days might have been asking too much of Baby J. Last night we rearranged our itinerary, adding another day of travel, and that is why we are in Oklahoma. Today was supposed to be our long day of travel, but I think we all needed a bit of a break so we only drove about 5.5 hours.

Here's what I've learned so far:
  1. The National Teacher's Hall of Fame and Museum is in Kansas
  2. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame is in Oklahoma
  3. Mr. Chunglund can reach behind him and shove the pacifier back in Baby J's mouth while he's driving, making him the ideal candidate to have the baby in his car on this road trip.
  4. Right before Baby J takes her a.m. nap is the ideal time to hit the road and ensures at least 2 hours of drama free driving
The last item on the list is by far the most useful thing to know. Between the hours of 2:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. we were pulling over about every 10 miles trying to get Baby J to stop crying. It made for slow slow going. By 8:30 p.m. there was literally no where to stop except for some creepy looking truck stops so we finally decided that we were just going to have to suck it up and drive for the next hour to get to Kansas City and let her cry. She eventually settled down after about 40 minutes.

Today, however, went much  more smoothly. Baby J rode with Mr. Chunglund and I got Carl as my car companion. Mr. Chunglund's ability to reach back and put the pacifier back in the baby's mouth was a lifesaver. We managed to get from Kansas City to Oklahoma City in a reasonable amount of time.

Tomorrow's distance goal - New Mexico!

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