NEVER do this

[Momma_Halo]

12 years ago my mother had the bright idea to move three kids across country to Idaho. 12 years ago my mother lost her dang mind.

We had a Dodge Ram SUV one of those very old tin can SUV's. My grandparents went down to NC to pick us up from my fathers and take us to Michigan for a couple of months while my mother finished some paper work for our new home in Idaho.

When July hit my mother thought it would be great to hang out in Michigan until after the fourth of July. Then when we had spent my mothers birthday with her family and had our fill of fun we left for a three day... yes I said three days! Three day trek across America with a back full of luggage, two cats, and three children. All of us less than a year apart.

Anyone cringing yet?

I was 15 years old, my sister 14, and my brother 13. It was a trip full of "Mom he touched me", "Mom pull over you took that turn to fast I am going to puke (and my mother knew if she didn't that I would too)", "MOM Kat just pooped a stinky one!" And it goes on and on. My mother started growing a tick. And another fun part is she drove until she was exhausted! We were sleeping in truck stop parking lots and rest stops.

Although one of those rest stops was a shady place and my mother had my brother escort her to the bathrooms. To which my sister replied "Mom don't you want someone strong and tough protecting you? I mean he is the princess." So if you have three kids all close in age and you wanted them to have that "closeness"... yeah get ready for this because that is the closeness you are getting most of the time. It was great when you were the kids but wait until you're the mother dealing with it.

Then let us add the heat... 100 degrees across almost all states until we got to Idaho and then it was 104. I am just glad she didn't pull the car over and massacre all of us. I could see the headlines now "Mom took kids on a road trip and then lost her frickin mind!"

When we finally got to Idaho we then left immediately afterwards (dumping cats and luggage at the new house) to Washington. Which then led to my mother who has never gotten a ticket speeding her butt to WA. We almost hit four deers and such but we annoyed her to this state.

We then picked up yet another cat (my cat Cali) and MORE stuff. Regardless to say she threw us in a motor home with our step father so she could have some peace and quiet.

Moral of the story... just say no to family road trips unless you have a plan.

(for those who don't know my parents are divorced and my father lived in NC for 24 years and my mother lived in WA or OR for 15 years. Sometimes I lived with my Dad or sometimes I lived with my mom)

[KristiS11384]

Jul. 12, 2009 at 4:32 PM

WOW, you've almost described the past 3 months. Only it was a move from Virginia to Washington with a 3 month stop in southern Idaho because the company went on a hiring freeze and couldn't complete the hiring process until later. Of course it was only with 2 kids 2 years apart but they are under age 4 and one gets motion sickness like you wouldn't believe.

Hugs to you, I KNOW your pain!!!

[Momma_Halo]

Jul. 12, 2009 at 5:51 PM

LOL I know, thankyou it was the trip that caused the trip to the shrink and prozac for my mother.

(Original Poster)

[KristiS11384]

Jul. 12, 2009 at 5:56 PM

And here I threw out all my prozac before I left Virginia.  LOL

[Momma_Halo]

Jul. 12, 2009 at 6:01 PM

Yeah you could have used that. I think if it would have been planned complete with hotels, pit stops, and a vehicle that wasn't so packed that it would have been fun. But moving across country is a whole different ball game. Especially when you have three kids that are all natural smart butts.

(Original Poster)

[Guaranteed]

Jul. 12, 2009 at 6:49 PM

Here's another thing you should never do: travel from Kansas to Texas with a baby who's only a month old. Ugh.

[Momma_Halo]

Jul. 12, 2009 at 7:06 PM

I only did that with California and Idaho and that wasn't fun.

(Original Poster)