Road to Hanover: Day FOUR

DAY FOUR: Austin, TX to Kansas City, MO

After our little break from traveling, we hit the roads as early as we could Monday morning, which was ummmm 9am?!  Not a typo at all, let's just say that this Momma doesn't do so hot getting up early.  It's sort of never been a strength for me and there is definitely a reason why I have never taken a permanent 7am-7pm nursing job in the seven plus years of my career.  I am a very happy rising at 7am or later.  Add that to the heavy duty packing required each and every morning on the road, and it makes for a late start no matter what you do.  That's okay though; we were just happy to finally have a radiator fan to replace the broken piece.

 Robby became completely attached to our cell phones after starting our trip back East and J downloaded several game apps for him.  His faves right now are: Air Attack, Raging Thunder- car race, and Angry Birds. This is basically how R looked each and every morning while we packed our car for the road :)

 Mr E was so worn out by Day FOUR that he didn't make a peep when we moved him from his pack and play to Dad's bed in the morning. Once we were pretty much all packed up, we finally awoke him and hit the road shortly after.

{he looks big and grown up in this picture}

{Little Miss chowing down on her breakfast at Grandpa's house}

Due to our not so early, early start we made the decision to just keep driving until our radiator started giving us problems.  We were really hoping to make it most of the way to Kansas City before stopping to fix the car, unfortunately we began to follow this super fun heat streak all the way across Mid America.  Yep, record highs in each of the cities we traveled through coupled with extreme humidity.  I don't know why people complain so much about how miserably hot Arizona is every Spring/Summer/Fall, I would much rather suffer through 115 degree DRY weather than 90 degree WET weather.  I've decided that humidity is the pits and I would live almost anywhere in the world as long as the weather is not humid.  I detest feeling like I have just stepped out a steam shower. Okay, okay, back on track now................

We were making pretty good time until our car started overheating somewhere between Austin, TX and Oklahoma City.  When we would stop for gasoline and restroom breaks the engine's temperature would jump to an alarming level and then gradually cool down after driving for a few minutes, provided we didn't have to stop at all.  If we hit a stop light the temperature would jump back up to the previous scary level.  All of this was happening as we were dealing with problems starting the car as well.  For some reason the key was also having problems catching in the key wheel [complete idiot mechanic terminology of course] and it was difficult for the right pieces inside the steering column to turn the car over.  Jesse started having to shake the key up and down while simultaneously turning the key in the wheel.  At times it would start the first time and other times it would take 10 minutes to get the car started.  So in the middle of worrying about the car overheating, we were also having a difficult time starting the car every time we turned it off.  We seriously had some wicked back luck.

While in Oklahoma City, the one highlight was the Fazoli's that we found.  My family was always a Fazolis loving family until all the stores closed in Arizona about six or seven years ago.  Us Sheffield's practically went through the "Seven Stages of Grief" due to this sad misfortune.  So when I realized I had a chance to eat there once again I was 100% for it.  The end result: the Fettucini Alfredo was delicious and just how I remembered it, garlic bread was good---even though they didn't walk around and hand out extra bread like they used to, but the lemon ice left a lot to be desired.  The drink tasted like a powdered substance had been used to mix it up and was far from how I remembered it.  It turned out to be a winner with the kids because:

  A) They all ate their food like champs

  B) It was air conditioned and Oklahoma City felt like I had just stepped out of a shower, gross 

 C) The store was practically empty and so the kids ran circles around the place and used up a fraction of        their energy before being stuffed back into the car 

 {Oh, how I've missed you}

{Funny story: I was so giddy about being able to eat at Fazoli's that the first thing I thought was that I had to tell my Mom about it, maybe even brag a little.  I took this cute picture of my soda cup with M smiling in the background and texted my mom a message that said "Look what Oklahoma City has. I figured you would appreciate this find on our journey".  At first I was surprised I never heard back from her, but quickly forgot about this until I mentioned this to my Dad.  He sort of laughed and then told me that Mom cannot receive picture messages on her phone. Major bummer}

Eli "Spiderman" Toronto showing us his new trick in the restaurant booth

After our Fazoli's stop and several traffic jams while attempting to make it back to the interstate we gradually realized that it was time to have Jesse really replace the radiator fan once and for all.  This brought us to a friendly Circle K that just so happened to be butted against a rather busy intersection.  It was my job to watch all the kids outside of the car and make sure they didn't run into the street or in front of cars at the gas station. Swell right?  First we decided to make a short trip across the street and rent a few Redbox DVD's for the children.  Hand in hand we walked over and back.  When we got back to the car we were all drenched in sweat.  Next came the incessant whines of being tired, hot, thirsty, etc.  After hearing enough of these demands I caved in and took them to the convenience store where we stocked up on way too much candy, soda, and treats to occupy ourselves until the car was ready. FINALLY we were off!!

At the gas station, some of the things we did to entertain ourselves included:

PRACTICING OUR AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL POSES

 EATING MULTIPLE CONTAINERS OF PRINGLES CHIPS (CHEDDAR CHEESE IS OUR FAVE)

PLAY WITH OUR MATCHBOX CARS

 FIND AS MANY STICKS AS YOU CAN WITHIN A 3 FOOT RADIUS, AND THEN TRY TO ATTACH THEM ALL TO THE CAR LUGGAGE. WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TO CARRY AS IT IS.

 TAKE SOME MORE DEJA VU PICTURES OF HANDSOME J FIXING THE CAR

 PRETEND THE STICK IS A SWORD AND ATTEMPT TO "CUT" THE BUNGEE CORDS THAT ARE ATTACHED TO THE CAR

 PULL WHOLE BRANCHES OUT OF THE TREE NEXT TO THE CAR

THEN PICK OFF ALL THE GREENERY AND LIKE MAGIC YOU HAVE YOUR VERY OWN SWORD :)

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, aside from the fact that we arrived in Kansas City at J's cousins house quite late (after midnight).  We were lucky that two of the three kids were passed out asleep and Robby went to sleep fairly easy as well.  I think we hit a record breaking unpack time before climbing into bed and practically falling asleep before our heads hit the pillows.

 During our drive, we stopped "a few times" for J to snap some pictures of small town America in the heart of Kansas. In places like this you find many Americana themed flags that truly are rustic and old {not just designed to look this way}

Also found are rustic Farmhouses such as this in "Kansas corn country"

Road to Hanover: Day THREE

DAY THREE: Austin, TX

The third day sort of blended in with the second after the overnight drive to Austin.  Jesse, being the trooper that he is, somehow managed to stay awake all night and get us there safely.  One of the benefits of driving overnight was that the one radiator fan managed to stay cool all night and we didn't have any problems with the engine overheating.

In J's words: As the Texas dawn breaks, the black knight has risen again!"

My dad welcomed us with open arms to his apartment that morning and we all tumbled in looking semi- ragged, tired, and definitely smelly.  After a nap for Jesse, and baths for our entire troop we felt somewhat renewed and were ready to take a drive around town to see his stomping grounds.  It was fun to see where he worked, downtown Austin, and the pretty trees everywhere {I did snooze off for a tiny bit of the tour.....sorry dad, I promise I was just really tired}.  All of the children were exhausted and also took great naps in the car during the same drive.  That evening we had a great dinner with Dad, ate some yummy ice cream and took the kids on a small walk around the apartment complex.  That evening was slightly rough trying to get the children to all go to bed.  The naps from the earlier car ride gave my children enough energy that they did NOT want to go to bed.  We ended up having Eli sleep in his pack and play in Dad's bedroom and then M and R shared a twin blow up mattress and J and I slept on the blow up queen mattress.  Dad's apartment was literally bursting at the seams with all of us! Robby and Maddie wouldn't stop their kicking wars with each other at bedtime, which about drove Mommy crazy.  Finally I ended up having Robby sleep on one side of me on the queen mattress, while M went to sleep on the twin. Lets just say that I am slightly looking forward to arriving in New Hampshire and getting separate sleeping quarters once again.

{M, Rubba and E, eating ice cream....thank you Grandpa!}

E with his delicious, dripping, sticky ice cream cone

Eli's "cheese" face

{Dad's fabulous balcony/porch at his apartment---he actually moved from this apartment complex only a few weeks after we visited}

All in all, day three was the perfect break from the monotonous all day driving we had experienced the two days prior.  

Road to Hanover: Day TWO

DAY TWO: Albuquerque, NM to Austin, TX (just barely)

Day Two on the road went something like this: Late morning, lots of packing/repacking, breakfast with Ben, SHORT drive until major car breakdown near Roswell NM, lots of waiting, McDonald's eating, lots of discussing what to do, and finally an ALL NIGHT car drive half way through Texas.  

"Let's be honest" {just for you, Michelle :)}, it was a real doozy. It's funnier to think back on that day and see how truly chaotic it was and I can even laugh a little to myself about what we went through.  It definitely was NOT funny a month ago however.

"I think we are in New Mexico somewhere. But I can't be sure. Everything looks the same. I'm totally enchanted!" (J)

We started the morning trying to pack up the car {again}, and met up with my brother, Ben, for some breakfast at IHOP.  It was so much fun even if the kids went semi-crazy in the restaurant.  Then it was on to our final goodbyes.  It was a little sad to think I won't see him until at least next summer, so I was really glad we were able to stop in NM and visit with him for a little bit.  After a late morning breakfast we had tentatively made plans to try to make it to the caves by late afternoon.  We had decided we would go slowly that day, relax and drive part way to our next destination: Austin TX.  Then on Sunday we could arrive and visit my dad.  Unfortunately, our plans changed much sooner than expected.  We had stopped to let the kids have a break at a playground in a tiny town near Roswell, NM when our carefully constructed plans all fell apart.  When we loaded up the kids and went to leave, we heard this horrible dropping sound under the hood and then the car made this really weird noise.  When J opened up the hood and inspected, he figured out we had a defective radiator fan that was installed days before we left.  Somehow one of the fan blades had broken.  We ended up unloading the kids again and J headed down the street to talk to the local auto repair shop about possible parts, while me and the children enjoyed the local dog pound next to the park.

 {remember how I said that we drove through the worst rainstorm ever on Day 1?  Well it taught us one major point: Weather proof does not = Water proof.  When we arrive at our hotel on day 1, all of the items that were in the large duffel bag on the top of the car were soaking wet.  This included the pack and play, some food, and most notably the boys bag that had all of their clothes for the trip.  I ended up having to choose the dryest items for them to wear on Day 2, but left these pants on our dashboard to attempt to air dry out for E.  Luckily once we hit Austin, TX we were able to take the clothes to the laundromat at my dad's apartment complex to dry them}

 Robby, Ben, Miss M, Eli and Jesse

{Brother Sissy photo-op}

 Potty-stop on the side of the road (before our car break down)

 Some of the beautiful scenery along the LONG stretch of highway in New Mexico

 Me and Mr E---silly boy trying on Mom's sunglasses :)

We sooo wanted to stay at this motel, too bad it was closed.

My car mechanic: I felt so blessed to be married to a man that knows how to fix cars decently well.  We would have wasted a lot more time and money if that wasn't the case....not to mention how hot he looks when he is sweating to death in humid, muggy weather as he rattles under the hood :)

 It's okay we've got it under control...Robby and Eli are going to fix the car ASAP with tree branches!

.....and Jesse also has a screwdriver??

The tricky thing was that apparently the specific radiator fan we needed was not available in just any store.  There were only a few at specific stores along our path AND it was already Saturday evening and most places were already closed.  Over yummy {gag} McDonald's food, we discussed our options---we brought the kids there so that they would have a place to run around and play while we talked about "what to do"; instead the outside play area was closed off for the day due to rainy weather and the kids were in our face the entire time and made me way too insane for words. After many talks with friends who were car mechanics, parents, and the auto repair store, we finally made the decision to keep driving and hopefully make it closer to Austin, TX.  Supposedly we would be able to drive with just the one fan hooked up for awhile, provided the engine didn't start overheating.

At midnight, during our gas, bathroom, food break we made the decision to try to drive all night long and possibly make it to Austin, TX by early morning.  We probably looked like the funniest group rolling through in the middle of the night with our kids all WIDE awake.  After eating some late night food, we ditched our cooler and much of our food {and no matter what J insists, he tossed R's monster truck toys, and some other items that I had fought tooth and nail to bring in the car} and reloaded up much lighter than before.  The children enjoyed being at the trucker stop and waving to all the large semi-trucks as they pulled in and out of the gas station.  Luckily this was about the last thing I remember on day TWO.  I took my contacts out at the rest stop and lay back and slept on and off the next 5-6 hours.  The next solid thing I remember, other than tossing and turning in the car, was bright light shining on me and getting ready to pull into Dad's apartment complex.

Robby, Maddie, Jesse and Eli at the rest stop

 "Our Road Warriors"

 Heavy duty packing/unpacking at the trucker stop.  

 There's nothing like seeing a little girl with pigtails in pajamas, waving to truck drivers at 2am!

Stay tuned for Day THREE :)

Road to Hanover: Day ONE

DAY ONE: Phoenix, AZ to Albuquerque, NM

The first day of our LONG road trip was quite eventful.  Some of the typical events you see in a long road trip: taking much longer to pack than originally anticipated, having more stuff to cram in then you thought, leaving much later than planned, blankets, pillows and assorted kids possessions in every nook and cranny.  Couple all of those with the fact that you are planning on being on the road for one whole week and it gets complicated.  We felt like we were being asked to put together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle at the drop of the hat, as we crammed and stuffed items in every available compartment in the car.  Then we grabbed our bungee cords and pulled and strapped our extra items on top of the car and behind it.  Finally we left around mid-day.  

{Saddled up and ready for the road, our own personal Knight Rider as J would say}

 Eli was already exhausted by the time we left, and quickly settled down for a nap just as we left the Phoenix area. He slept really well until we stopped up on the Mogollan Rim.

Even though we had left quite a bit later than planned, we still stopped for a little while up at a scenic look out point on the Mogollan Rim. It was perfect to stop here on our final goodbye to our Home in Arizona.  

 "Is that New Hampshire Dad?"

 {Looking for Bears on the Rim Lookout}

In J's words: "One last look at the Mogollan Rim in the Arizona White Mountains. I've spent my entire life camping and exploring the forests in these mountains.  This is a place I will always cherish and remember."

As soon as we left the look out point we got HAMMERED with rain.  Probably the worst rainstorm that we have ever driven through.  It slowed our time down considerably but we managed to make it into Albuquerque that evening pretty late.  My brother, Ben, has been living there all summer for an internship and we were able to meet up with him that evening.  He bought pizza and met us at our hotel room that night.  We sat up and chatted while the kids were jumping wildly from one bed to the other.  Finally it was time to go to bed and we made plans to meet back up with Ben in the morning for a breakfast.

 New Mexico: the land of enchantment, full of freight trains pulling lots of oil cars

Mr E makes us laugh...he covers his ears like this whenever there is a loud noise :)