Road Trip from...

Nashville to Chatanooga.

Doesn't sound too bad huh? About 1 hour and 45 minutes is what it should take. I packed the girls in the car this morning at 9:45.

Snacks? Didn't need them. The drive isn't too long. We'll get there before lunch.
Toys? I loaded up. I didn't want the girls to get bored for the 1 hour 45 minutes we'd be in the car.
Music? I had it! My ipod!
Movies? That too! Thanks to our portable DVD and a few Elmo and Mickey Dvd's!

I was so excited to do something out of the norm today. A break.
Cayce needed someone to take her to the airport. Only thing was, she needed someone to pick her up... from chatanooga. But hey, I didn't mind. Honestly. I really was excited for it.

It started out a bit chilly. I hate wearing shoes during road trips (even short ones) so I had to have my flip flops. Silly me... there was ICE on my windshield when I got out to the car. So My feet FROZE... literally. Not too bad. Turned on the heater and I was A OK in a few minutes.

Then I needed gas. I filled up on the other side of murfreesboro so that I'd feel like we'd made more of a dent in the trip! It was maybe 10 (or right after) at the time.

We made excellent time. My favorite part of the trip is that one rest stop on the Tennessee river, near the state line. I LOVE that rest stop. I remember stopping there on youth temple trips before there was one in Nashville. LOVED IT. But I didn't stop this time. Oh no. We had to get to Cayce.

At 11:0... something, I called Chris. It was his lunch break. I was so excited to tell him I was passing the rest stop... or near it. can't quite remember. I just remember talking to him. A little bit after I got off the phone with Chris, I passed a sign saying
"Chatanooga 13 miles"

WOOHOO... almost there. And right at lunch time too. I had timed it perfectly. We'd get to Cayce's just right. Taylor could eat, maddie could nurse and....

Wait...

We slowed down...

Then we stopped!

???? What was going on? Alright... no biggie. We'd be there soon. But we weren't. After 30 minutes I started calling people. My mom, Cayce, and Chris. I told chris... NO we're not in chatanooga yet. Almost... 12.9 miles away!!! I asked Cayce to check online to see what the hold up was. I asked my mom for advice cause the girls were kinda whiny.

Another 30 minutes. I asked Cayce to REALLY try to figure out what was going on! I asked my mom if I should try to nurse Maddie even with all the cars and trucks and people surrounding me. I asked Chris what he thought could possibly be going on. He said it takes about an hour to clear out a wreck. Okay I thought... they've had time to clean it up. We'll get moving soon.

Another 30 minutes. I had gotten out of the car, gone back and read the girls some books, turned the music up to drown out the screams of a hungry baby (I decided against the nursing... She wasn't going to starve), watched some dvd's, and gotten very aggravated at I 24! But still... no real movement.

ANOTHER 30 MINUTES! SERIOUSLY... WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON CAYCE? MOM, THEY ARE BOTH SCREAMING AND NOW I AM TOO! CHRIS, THE GIRLS MIGHT NOT MAKE IT BACK ALIVE! (I got so bored, I pulled out my camera and tried to see the weirdest shot I could take in my car. I had fun with the macro setting. But my camera is outside, in my car at the moment, and it's cold and I don't want to get it now. I'll show my random pics tomorrow.)

We finally started moving again. And do you know what the holdup was? Because I don't! There was nothing. One second I was stopped, the next, I was doing 70 again! Maddie cried herself to sleep. Taylor went through 3 Elmo's World Episodes, 5 Mickey Mouse Club House episodes, and 1 round of Leap Frog Letter Factory! Oh my WORD it was awful. We FINALLY arrived at Cayce's at... 1 something. That's right... almost 4 HOURS after I left, I arrived. Taylor got some Burger King which she didn't really eat, but instead fed to Sady. Maddie nursed for like 5 minutes and then went back to sleep. And then we got to get back in the car to drive home.

I'm a forgiving person. So, I'm forgiving road trips for giving me such a hard time today. But I'm not going to be taking another one anytime soon, unless I'm really prepared (bottles, snacks, earplugs!)