The drive down wasn't horrible, though it was quite long. After about 10 hours I was feeling pretty pumped about it, until I remembered there were 5-6 more to go. That was sort of my "hitting the wall" moment, though I will admit repeatedly, on the record, that it was worth the drive to have a car on property again. I think in general though, we will go back to the flying + renting a car route, for reasons to be revealed
shortly
shortly
Really though, we made great time heading down. Mapquest says it should take ~15.75 hours, so we expected 17 or so with a few stops and 2 one-year-olds. We made it in 15.75. Yes I know, we're good :) Then however, we spent two hours wandering around a stupid little town called Windermere that has posted hours that you're allowed driving on their god-forsaken streets. I won't go into detail, just know that we almost ran out of gas and decided against any future "let's explore surrounding communities" excursions. Oh yes, and any future requests of the Garmin, which is apparently now useless.
It was the second and third legs of our car journey, though, that would prove even more frustrating. (And trust me when I say that if you knew how frustrating the first portion was, that's saying something). As you will hear in about 6 months when I finally get around to finishing up my trip report, Hartley was sick as snot when we left WDW for Hilton Head. As in, 4+ hours in the ER sick as snot, though thankfully she is well now. Really, stop worrying. I've already given away the ending, and so even when I get to the thrilling recollection of that nights' events, you'll have read the last page. Lucky you.
The drive from WDW to Hilton Head is supposed to be a very simple, very quick 5-ish hour drive. Straight over US4 to I-95 and across the bridge the the island. And it was simple, just not quick. Instead of five hours, it took 9 ... and only one small factor in that was pulling off the highway to clean up after a sick child. Oh, and another small factor was dealing with prescription issues out-of-state when our hospital-based insurance plan wants you to use Kroger stores or mail-order. Long story (and nearly an hour wait at Walgreens), but that all worked out, too.
The biggest factor - or should I say factors - was traffic. Not 1, not 2, not even 3.... but FOUR freaking accidents that had multiple lanes of traffic stopped (or the highways closed altogether), in a matter of about 22 miles. FOUR. Unrelated. In Florida, where - although it was quite chilly (50) - there was no ice. Or rain. Or sun glare. Or potholes. Or anything, anywhere, that should have caused a single large accident. Let alone four. It took 3 hours to go 22 miles, and that sucked.
There were other factors too, because we hadn't had enough drama for one car trip. Our fast food dinner took almost 30 minutes to get. All of Hartley's clothes were secured on top the roof because I was still under the impression that Zofran worked miracles. (I take that back - it does, just apparently not 100% of the time. Only
99%
99%
Then we had to drive home. In October of 2009 (yes, nearly 6 months ago), there was a rockslide in North Carolina on I-40. In case you aren't familiar, I-40 is a major freaking interstate that is the ONLY way to much of that part of the country. When we went to Gatlinburg a few months ago, it nearly ruined our trip (but didn't), and we thought for sure it would have been cleared by now (it wasn't). When we found out the road was still closed, we realized we would need an alternate route home. One which - because of the aforementioned stress on what a large, important road I-40 is - would add nearly 2 hours to our drive, no matter which option we took. That was a tough pill to swallow, considering we "only" stopped at HHI in order to break up the drive. Now, we would be looking at about 13+ hours home (in addition to the 9 it took from WDW to HHI)... not much of an improvement, if you just look at time spent in the car. Add to that the fact that we had 1.5 sick girls (and were waiting to have 2 sick adults, too), and we were ever so disheartened.
Alas, we were on the road a bit earlier than planned but with the most optimistic outlook we could have. That is, until we hit I-95 again about 30 minutes into our trip. And almost hit the cars in front of us, as everyone slammed to a halt as far as the eye could see. For the next 45 minutes or so, we sat on the highway, cars off, chatting with the neighbors who were all out enjoying the beautiful weather (ironic, as you'll see from the lack of beautiful weather we had most of the trip). Closed freaking highway. It turns out a trailer (as in U-haul, not semi) had overturned, so thankfully everyone appeared safe. And it took only about an hour to clean up, versus what it could have with a more serious accident. Still, spirits were dropping quickly! (I believe it was at this point, and in some miraculous way not any sooner (I was being a saint, really, about the whole driving thing!) that I said something along the lines of, "No price will ever be too high to fly again, or we just won't vacation". I think I still mean it.
Eventually we got moving again and drove small 2-lane highways through most of appalachia... until Emmersyn got sick. Here we go... Round two of Zofran prescription nightmares (after round two of blessing the parking lot and bathrooms of a gas station with a
little
little
So at about 10:30pm (give or take an hour) we were back on the road with two sick, screaming, hysterical babies. Holy crap, if we ever made it home I would not even care that "vacation" had ended! (You know, so long as we can go again soon ;))
Emmersyn ended up throwing up again, a few hours into her Zofran dose. This is not surprising because, as you will later see, this bug was violent enough to seriously freak out a pediatrician and pediatric RN. I spent most of the rest of the trip turned around backwards, trying to avoid my own [car]sickness, holding a bag out in case she were to vomit yet again. Trickier than it sounds, too, because she had already picked up a nasty respiratory infection a few days earlier, and coughed every few minutes, sending Zach and I into a mad scramble thinking it was more than a cough.
We made it home at about 4:45 am Tuesday, after leaving HHI at 1:45pm on Monday. FIFTEEN hours (for a 10.5 hour drive), plus 9 hours (for a 5.5 hour drive) and you would think I might have counted the Hilton Head "detour" a loss. I don't though, because we had such a marvelous time there. I count the 32 hours in the car a loss, but then again I sort of knew that would be the case. Though, seriously, not to this extent! ;)
We've been home now for just about 60 hours. It's been 30 or so since we've had any vomiting, though 3 out of 4 of us still feel fairly rotten. The girls both have nasty, nasty upper respiratory infections again (sort of like just before we left..... infections which miraculously disappeared in Florida. Coincidence? I doubt it). I think it's going to take a bit longer to get back into the swing of things after this crazy trip, but it WAS a fantastic vacation together... and hey, with the exception of today (which is grey and ugly as all get out), the weather is just as nice back here in good old Ohio as it was while we were in the south. I'll take it!
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