Night Driving...

We drive to Idaho once a year. Although we love spending the time with family, it's 17 hours and not a drive we look forward to. In the past, I've driven to Steve's work to pick him up, we drive to Utah, stay the night with family, get up early the next morning and continue the drive to Idaho. Our three young kids start to ask two hours in if we're there yet. It's a long trip.

Last week, just the day after we got back from Milwaukee, I was packing the car for the long trip. We were to leave Wednesday morning, so I had Tuesday afternoon/evening to tie up loose ends. After we got dinner cleaned up (6:30pm) Steve suggested to try and leave that night. I quickly dismissed his idea. There was no way we would be ready to leave on time.

An hour and a half later, I let Steve pull the trigger as to whether we would drive through the night or not. He decided we would go, so we spent the next hour and a half throwing things together and getting them in the car. It was mass chaos, but we were trying to leave as quickly as possible so we could get the kids asleep in the car. I have never been more discouraged with the way the house looked when we walked out the door; it was not pretty and Steve knew that was the consequence of leaving so quickly.

Steve and I took two/three hour shifts driving and then we'd sleep. Hunter and Hallie slept like champs and Bennett slept very little - but at least he was quiet. I took my turn just before 5 am and before too long I could see the midnight sky streaked with orange. As the car started to fill with light I expected the kids to wake immediately, but they stayed asleep for quite a while and it was peaceful to see the sky change colors. We stopped at Steve's sister in north Utah for breakfast before loading kids back in the car for the final leg. It was a surprisingly enjoyable drive. And although I fought driving through the night for some time, I just might be converted. Quiet sleeping children through 2/3 of a long trip is worth every ounce of lost sleep!