Brain dump, status report, part three...

it was a dark and stormy night....no, wrong novel.

It was actually a partly overcast morning. Perfect for driving to D.C. Which was the plan in place. Leaving Greenville, S.C., at around 8:30 a.m., we were scheduled to arrive in Springfield, V.A., nine hours later. Give or take a bathroom and/or food break.

Digression: along with K's strict instructions regarding packing, she is militant regarding stops. She, therefore, has trained her girls' bladders to expand to greater than normal size while in the car and not expect emptying but every 13 hours or so. I almost kid. On this side of the fence, my bladder needs emptying about every 30-40 minutes. Friends who know us both were overtly calling our planned adventure, "Felix and Oscar Go To D.C."

Knowing the task ahead of me, I had been in training, as in weaning off of water and coffee for the four previous days, so as to prepare myself for the Olympian task ahead. (You think I kid.) By Sunday, I was ready.

Into the SUV we piled, packed to the gills, and plowed off. Food and bathrooms came four hours later because we needed gas. Never have I been more thankful that Chevy has not converted their full-size SUVs to electric/hybrid/whathaveyou vehicles yet or my bladder may have needed a transplant. There are advantages to a car that still needs fuel.

And so it went, all the way to V.A. I hesitate to tell you what time we actually made a nine hour trip in because some of you with mad math skillz will be able to figure out if two trains are going 80 miles an hour and pass a rest stop every 930 miles but do not stop, what time they cross the equator in central standard time.

Anyhoo. Arrival meant another blessed toilet and uncramping our legs. We were staying with my cousin's family so it was also a sweet family reunion for me. The kids, all seven at that point, were immediate BFFs, eager to live happily ever after if it meant no more driving.

I suppose I could regale you with tales of the actual in car time, but my brain has mercifully blocked out those things.

I kid. On the whole spectrum of this temporal life, everyone cooperated, helped out, there were snacks! and only a couple of times did the moms think we would need to chew our ears off for greater world peace and unity.

So ends part three of the telling.