Road Trip

We are staying in Houston tonight. Ryan is with his dad at the Regional Semifinals of the men's NCAA tournament. I have gotten over my jealousy and am enjoying a quiet night in the hotel room while Molly is sleeping in her pack-n-play. (Part of my ability to get over my jealousy was my consumption of a medium mushroom pizza while my gluten intolerant husband was away.) I was nervous about the long car trip with the baby, but she did wonderfully. The trip took us 5 hours, just a half hour longer than the time predicted by mapquest. Last I checked, they don't take into account stopping along the way for diaper changes.

I guess we timed it well, because soon after we left home, Molly settled in for her first nap. While she was sleeping, we celebrated the odometer in my car reaching 100,000. The milestone occurred near Bubba's Bar B Q and Steakhouse. As their billboard advertises, "You never SAUSAGE a place!" Shortly after she roused from her nap we stopped for a fill-up (gasoline and breastmilk) at Woody's Smokehouse. Disappointed not to see any kolaches (sausage rolls- typical Texas breakfast fare... think Sausage McMuffin meet doughnut shop fried goodness), I quickly was distracted by the full-service jerky counter. Amazing! I had never seen such a thing. I was tempted to browse and begin my Christmas shopping way too early. I remembered that I had a baby on my hip and several hours of driving still looming. I grabbed a stick of jalapeno beef jerky to enjoy with my coffee and headed toward the cashier.

The rest of the trip proceeded relatively uneventfully for me, as I was the one behind the wheel, and Ryan had the task of entertaining the baby. I know that food should be reserved for being eaten at the table, but it does wonders to distract a child! Molly gummed at a piece of banana in her self-feeder while Ryan marvelled at the sweet and sticky mess. He then entertained her quite a while with her bottle filled with ice water. Another highlight for me was passing a motorist stopped by a police officer and learning that sheriff's deputies in Texas really do wear cowboy hats. A short nap later, and we were arriving at our hotel.