USRT15--#19 Family Adventure In Review

To re-cap, here is a list of sequential links to our whole trip west and back along with a few notes to myself.

#1: Immediately Exciting
#2: Down Into Mammoth-Sized Caves
#3: Eastward Through the Middle
#4: Dunes and More Colorado Driving
#5: To the Arches
#6: BYU
#7: Old Friends Again
#8: Tetons on My Birthday
#9: Island Park Reunion
#10: Yellowstone with the Family
#11: Bonus Hike to Fairy Falls
#12: Return to Bear Lake
#13: Unstressed Family Photos
#14: Salt Lake City
#15: Flat Salt Water
#16: Landforms in the Middle
#17: Sacred Spots in Missouri
#18: An Indiana Temple

I accomplished my task, to drive to the west and back without Dan's help. It wasn't easy, but I would do it again to save him vacation time and buy us adventure opportunities at a relatively low price.

We used many of the same strategies from our USRT13 (US Road Trip 2013) to keep everyone occupied in the car on this trip. The kids can read now, and so they worked through chapter books. They can find our location on a map. They can write their own postcard messages. Joshua was on communications duty the whole time, texting anyone who would talk back. Our good friend sent us with a whole packet of mazes and math games, and the kids dug into those daily on the first half of the trip. Listening to the Little House books on CD were another highlight.

Photos are very deceiving.  Warning: kids are grumpier than they look. And you can never see me, the photographer, and you can't hear the snappy things I just said to my kids. That said, we get along much better than I could expect.

I survived as the solo driver by taking power naps at rest stops. My kids were really good to me when I was trying to fit those in. 

I am a bit of a hypochondriac when I do these trips. I carry a large first aid kit with everything I might need to pick up at a pharmacy. I do my very best to avoid wearing myself out: I rarely stay up late, I try hard to stay hydrated, and I eat veggies and fruits each day. In defense of my anxiety, it's a little hard to forget getting a migraine while camping in the Grand Canyon and all of the other time spent in bed when we wanted to be visiting with our family (ex. strep throat in Island Park in 2011, Dan's super-cold in Idaho this year, the twins stomach virus that took away their appetites this year.)

I gained about ten pounds on this trip. I didn't do a lot of unhealthy snacking, but, as it turns out, sitting for hours on end isn't really that good for a body. My back and feet had odd aches that eventually went away in August after our return.

I will add other notes as I remember them. We are already looking forward to our next road trip. The destination is still unknown.