Cross Country Travels Part 1

The girls and I headed out an early 5:30am on Sunday, March 19th to Colorado Springs, CO to go help my niece, Amanda. She just had baby #2 with complications. As we traveled I thought...gee this is going well! the girls are awake, but quiet and no weather problems other than some slight rain in the mountains, then.... Emma starts crying around 8:00am, confused I look behind me and she is COVERED in vomit. We hadn't even left Idaho yet. We are in the middle of NOWHERE and not much of a turn around spot to speak of..I ended up using the shoulder to get out into the wind and get her cleaned up as best I could and we continued on with a few more of these stops along the way. Luckily one gas station cashier was a seasoned Mother of children with car sickness and set me up with loads of grocery bags and cups with lids. I invested in an air freshener and terry cloth towels and we kept trekking.

We stopped at a Truck Stop restaurant in Wyoming for dinner and I completely forgot that not all states have adopted the clean air act. ICK! Funny thing..there was NO Non-Smoking Section. I mean really, who does that anymore? So we went about finding a booth that was "less" smokey and proceeded with dinner. There was a gentleman who was across from us and I could tell he was making an effort to blow his smoke away from my kids, but then Maggie starts in with, "It's stinky in here Mom!" And of course it was. I wanted to leave but we were so tired of traveling and I didn't know how far we'd have to travel until another stop. Then she proceeds to lean over the booth and speak directly to him, "You shouldn't smoke. It's bad for your body!" and wants to continue to let him know why, something about yucky lungs etc. Caught off guard and bit embarrased, but in total agreeance I attempt to interrupt her and explain that it's his choice and that we're not to lecture about it. I didn't know what else to say. I guess I should be considering these types of things BEFORE the situation occurs.

We were welcomed in at Amanda's home that evening and I believe we spent a total of 13 hours to complete a 10 hour drive, but we were there and Emma was no longer vomiting so I call that a success!