Day 1

Day 1: Friday September 12, 2014

Planned Destination: Mullen residence – Brimfield, Massachusetts

(Picture of Planes, Trains, Automobiles)

3:45 PM – We’re off. Packing wasn’t that bad. I counted a few times (socks, underwear, etc….) and let Meaghan worry about the rest (I need to get this out of the way now, she’s a rockstar, I can’t underscore that enough). We ended up with a lot of stuff so we ditched a captain’s chair from the Odyssey and took off.  Sam and Sadie are in the back seat with a big box of coloring books, games, puzzles, etc. They have the kids on Christmas look on their faces as they excitedly dig into the box. They should be busy for hours.

3:52 PM – Sadie: “okay we played with all this stuff, what else we got?”

3:57 PM – After 2 ½ years of owning this van I have just now discovered that the wireless head phones make it so we don’t have to listen to the kids movies. Actually, we can listen to whatever we want in the front. I tell Meg this is the greatest day of my life. She thinks I’m serious. Whoops, well only 3,394 miles to go!

3:58 PM – bad news. One of the head-sets isn’t working. I remember seeing a jack near the back seat so I steal Meg’s earbuds and surf across everything we own and find the jack. Crisis averted. I want to find and hug the Japanese designer who convinced his boss that they should have a fail-safe built into their minivan just in case a wireless headset goes down . Brilliant. Just brilliant.

4:30 PM – Never feed Meg chili before a three hour ride. Good thing the windows work.

7:15 PM – We make it to our destination and my favorite niece Rosealee is so excited to see us she’s literally dancing in the driveway. Maggie sees her and starts laughing hysterically which is good because she was about to lose it.

Rebecca got me some junior mints for the ride. This makes me happy. We stash the raspberry jam we’ve brought to get thru the next six months in the fridge (my mom’s. it’s the best.), enjoy the nice supper Joe grilled for us and we head to bed.

States Traveled: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts

Daily Time: 3.5 hours

Daily Mileage: 197 miles

Total Mileage:  197 miles