1,900 Miles

Thank God we're home.

I don't think I've ever spent that much time in my car for one trip. We left Thursday evening for a not-so-short jaunt to western Wisconsin (practically Minnesota) to pick up his son, K1. (K2 couldn't come; he's only 3). We spent the night in Champaign, Ill., before meeting up with K1 and his mom at about 3 p.m. Friday, then turned right around and headed back, staying overnight in Madison, Wis. We got up early Saturday morning and drove, and drove, and drove, and drove some more, cutting across the northern parts of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio before hanging a right and heading south again. We ended up in Canton, Ohio, that night, which was kind of cool because we got to take K1 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this morning before starting out for Columbus, to pick N. up from the airport. (I really can't get into the details about N., but everything's cool. He'll be here for two months.)

It was an interesting trip. We got the oil changed in good old Fiona right before we left town Thursday evening. Trouble was, the idiot assholes at the quick lube or whatever forgot to replace the oil cap, so Fiona started smoking just east of Columbus. Boy, was Steve pissed! They had left it on the battery and, miraculously, it didn't fall off while we were driving. Other than having to clean up some oil that had spewed all over the engine, there was no damage. We avoided mishaps Friday and Saturday, but we kind of had a double whammy Sunday morning. Steve needed some medicine for his chronic heartburn and opened a bottle of Pepsi that had been in the hot car for several hours. It exploded everywhere. After we pulled off at at gas station to clean up, we didn't get 30 miles down the road before we slammed into a coyote. We did everything we could to avoid it, but the darn thing slunk right under my right front wheel, then went spinning into the guardrail. Oh, but not before he emptied his bowels on my bumper. K1 thought it was hilarious that we literally scared the shit out of a coyote.

Anyway, we finally rolled back into town at about 8 p.m., and the effects of a long, but decent, trip are finally taking their toll. I'm worn out. Steve is worn out. The boys, however, are friggin' WOUND UP. N is your typical pubescent boy, so everything relating to boobs, curse words and other crude things is hilarious to him. K1 is pretty awesome. He's finally gotten the hang of my name being Jen, not Jasmine or Jessica, and he's really smart and funny. We're going to have to work on the flatulence ... but we're blaming that on Burger King (for now, at least.)

Needless to say, it's a lot noisier at our house. Steve and I are both kind of shell-shocked right now. This is a whole new world for me, and I know Steve must be feeling the same way. I'm pretty confident that things will settle down in the next day or two, and we'll have a really great summer. It will certainly be a trip!