We're on the road, and it's going reasonably well so far, except for our tv being stolen. But wait, I'll take it in order...
We left the Bay Area Friday morning. We definitely needed all of Thursday to finish packing, what with the errands and such that needed running too. We didn't finish packing until 11:30 p.m.! Got reasonable sleep after that, got up around 9, finally hit the road at 10:30. Everything takes longer with a baby, especially when she is insisting that one of her parents hold her the entire time.
Kavi was pretty good on the drive -- she slept a fair bit, and played quietly some. She only started getting fretful around 6 p.m., when I think she really got restless. She's used to spending several hours a day rolling or jumping in her jumperoo -- the enforced inactivity got to her, I think. She also decided that she didn't like Kevin's audiobook; when we switched to music, she calmed down some. Still, there was lots of entertaining her with toys, and silly faces, and the like. Two hours of that was about as much as I could take.
We decided to stop in Elko, NV, before we got to the big mountains -- we didn't want to try to go over those in the dark! Got nicely settled into the Motorlodge (which takes dogs), and was happy to pay an extra few bucks for a clean, non-moldy room. (Unlike one of the motel rooms we stayed in on our way out). It took several trips getting everything we needed from the car into the hotel -- diaper bag, backpacks, duffel with clothes, duffel with baby food and dog food, various beverages so that they don't freeze in the car overnight. Then we ordered pizza (sadly, the desk clerk gave us the wrong number, so we ended up with Dominos instead of Round Table, but at least it was pizza). And all would have been well, except Kevin happened to look out the window and see someone at the open trunk of our car!!!
Kevin shouted, and the guy apparently slammed the trunk and left. Kev had already stripped down for bed, so I went out to see if anything had been taken. And in fact, yes, the small flat-screen tv that we had had wrapped in a blanket was gone!!!
It's not a huge loss -- we probably paid about $150 for it a few years ago, so it's not even worth trying to claim on our insurance. But very frustrating! And then we had to tell the desk clerk, and talk to the police and alll -- not that we thought they'd be able to find it, but it seemed like the good citizen thing to do. So it ended up being a later night than we really wanted, and I was revved up on adrenaline for a while and had trouble falling asleep. Sigh.
Kavi woke me at 5:45 today, so I may be a little groggy today. Still, I can usually nap in the car while Kev's driving, so I think it'll be okay. It's 23 hours from Elko to Chicago, so in theory, we could do it in two long days (stopping in North Platte). But I think we'll probably end up doing it in three days (stopping in Laramie, WY tonight), because baby gets restless and we get tired with our interrupted sleep. S'okay. As long as we don't crash off the side of a mountain, I'm happy. Although it would be nice if nothing else of ours got stolen!