Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Look! Out the window, it's.....

I had to reflect on our recent trips to Missouri & Arkansas after reading the column My Turn in the recent issue of Newsweek ("...we had daily 'tech checks' to make sure everything was charged. There were so many cords traversing the minivan, it looked like a fully equipped kidney-dialysis unit."). While our trek was quite a bit shorter than the 1200 miles undertaken by the author and her family, it was, nonetheless, uncharted territory for us. For most people (without children) a journey from here to Arkansas would be about a 6 hour drive. With children, especially when both are under 4 years-old, it could be 7 hours, it could be 10! The longest journey we'd taken with Joe, prior to Columbia a few weeks ago, was 4 hours - also to Columbia - and he slept the whole way there - and back if I recall! Isaac had never traveled more than 2 hours before going to Columbia and he did amazingly well too. We left at 7:15 am for Arkansas to allow plenty of time so we didn't arrive just before sunset and have to eat, set up our tent, and get the boys to sleep. Also, not wanting to press our luck, we had a DVD player as our backup plan. Fortunately we've been blessed with two wonderful young travelers as both were able to entertain themselves or were napping. Of course, there were also the requisite diaper changes and potty stops. Occasionally, Joe even helped entertain Isaac. I have to admit, though, traveling is easier since Joe is a bit infatuated with all things mechanical - trucks, trains, buses, planes, farm equipment, even irrigation systems. All of which were in ample supply the entire route. On the return trip we didn't rush quite as much (partially since found out that when our speedometer showed 74, we were actually doing closer to 80 - so that's why no one passed us!). However, we also spent 45 minutes for lunch at the county park in Butler MO. It turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of the whole, 9-hour trip. I'm happy to say that for the whole time we were gone we never even turned on the DVD player. Granted they're still quite young, but I'm going to encourage my boys to watch as much scenery as possible. When you're traveling scenery changes and it's gone once you're past it. We can watch a movie anytime, anywhere.

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