Dozeman/Griswold Vacation – Day 1

Dozeman/Griswold Vacation – Pre Trip

Twas the night before vacation, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Oh wait, we were up and we were working until the wee hours of the morning. Mike didn’t get back from his business trip until almost 11 p.m. and we had to install the luggage racks. This should not have taken long. Instead, it was one project after another.

First, the light over the license plate on our trunk luggage rack had broken from being shoved around in storage. It was dangling there like a limp noodle. Mike had to take out the wires from the back and the process took forever. Then, we couldn’t remember how we put the dang thing on before. We searched for the doo-hickey that holds the bar thingy in and couldn’t find it. After some time went by, Mike remembered there may be some important information in a baggy underneath the lining of the luggage rack. Right. By now, it’s been an hour and we’re freezing. Just to give you an idea of how things are going.

So, we find this “baggy” under the lining as he said and sure enough, there are instructions and a little but sturdy screw that we are supposed to use to secure the luggage rack inside. Thank God. We go back out and maneuver the luggage rack to the right location to fit the screw in, jimmy the screw in correctly and voila! One luggage rack is finally installed, right? Oh, wrong, we have to install the license plate. That should be easy.

It wasn’t easy. The dang thing was broken too. One screw was “shot” and a backup one we found wasn’t quite long enough to screw in the plate. After a good half hour of fiddling with it, Mike was about to give up (I think, but I may be wrong). Then, his smart and oh-so-intelligent wife suggested we remove the cover from the license plate since it’s not necessary and then the screw may fit. Holy cow, I had a good idea. It fit! We were finally done with one luggage rack. Just one more to go.

After our horrible luck with the first, we thought we wouldn’t have as much worry with the second. After all, it’s a lot simpler to put the top luggage rack on because it’s all just screw-on-the-top. It’s a solid 1:30 in the morning by now. We’re tired and grumpy. I can’t feel my fingers anymore. I just want this over with. Why did I say I wanted to drive again? Anyways. Luggage rack. We lug the bulky thing up onto the car and what do you know! It. Does. NOT. Fit.

Impossible, right? We’ve travelled with this thing on top before. Something must be wrong. We work with it. We try to stretch the handle things. Nothing. It won’t fit. I’m really on my game late at night, or early in the morning as it were, and I ask Mike, could it be that the Pacifica racks are moveable? Sure enough… we didn’t have the Pacifica racks close enough together for the luggage rack to cling to. We had to remove them and reinstall them closer together before we could get the luggage rack installed properly.

It is now 2 a.m. But we have the dang luggage racks installed!

Dozeman/Griswold Vacation – Day 1

A mere four hours later, I’m up and getting ready for our day to start driving. I take a shower, get dressed, and run to the store to buy donuts as promised for our kids. I tried to buy coffee but even the coffee shops weren’t open that early yet!

Everyone was up by 7ish and oh-so-ready to go. I loaded up the car as much as I could while Mike took a shower and got ready. Our plan was to leave by 9. Overall, we were pretty close. The Griswold’s arrived by 9 sharp and brought coffee (bless them!) and we were packed and ready by 9:30! 

The drive itself was pretty uneventful. The kids were very well behaved. They did good with DVDs and looking out the window before lunch. I didn’t bring out any electronics until after lunch. We stopped in Anderson, Indiana at Panera around 1 p.m. and ate. The kids were surprisingly good for being cooped up in a car for so long and then having freedom at a restaurant. I think they like having their friends with them. Especially Andrew. He loves having Reece with him on this trip!

After lunch, we hit the road again and I brought out all the electronics. We had another four hours of driving so I prayed the electronics would have just enough batteries to last that long. Surprisingly, they did! We made a few more bathroom and gas stops, but overall we made great timing. The iPad lasted all the way up until we reached our hotel at which point it had 3% battery! Not bad at all.

Our hotel is very nice. We have a suite that we all fit in pretty comfortably. The kids were so hyper after the last stint of driving. We ordered pizza and ate in the lobby. Afterwards we took everyone swimming to burn off some steam. They all had a great time in the pool! I think it was a highlight of the day.

After swimming it was time for baths and bedtime. We have an early day tomorrow because we’re planning to see the mammoth caves! I’m a little nervous about how the kids are going to do with the hour long tour but I have to stay positive. They’ve done so well so far. I think they’ll enjoy it!