For this trip our cross country vehicle is my Pontiac Vibe.
I LOVE my little car.
It's a funny story how I got it. And as much as I would love to share it, I will refrain and try to stay on topic.
There are two features that I especially enjoy.
The first is a 115V/100W AC outlet. It's so great to not have to get a car adapter for every electronic device! For this road trip, I bought a short extension cord to run down the center console and to the floor board of the back seat. As needed, DS could plug his DS into it.
The second is the functionality of the shot gun seat. It will lay perfectly flat. The back of it has a plastic tray type thing so you can use it as a sort of table. Another long story, but once we used that seat to hold our $5 take and back pizza dinner while DH and DS sat in the back.
Combining the ideas here, we thought that we had come up with a perfect set up for watching DVDs on this road trip.
I recently received a new lap top as a gift from my parents. It has a beautiful screen. It's a wide screen too, so perfect for watching movies. Much better than a cheap DVD player. So the idea was that we could set the laptop up on the "table" and just plug it in. We also brought an extra set of computer speakers along so that we could hear the thing loud and clear. These speakers are really nice. They require power too, but the extension cord had room for 3 things so, no problem.
The only deal with the set up is that it requires a bit of manuvering of all the goods in the car. Because my little car is a bit short on space. All the items next to DS in the back seat, multiple coolers and some car entertainment, needed to be moved to the front. Then DH needed to move to the back.
As we were walking out the car from our lovely break in the middle of the river swamp, DS announced that he'd like to look at some things on the computer.
He didn't quite GET that the internet wouldn't be working on it.
Movie watching was a good second pick. What did we bring?
We'll see. Let's get everything moved around.
The PLAN was a good one.
It's unfortunate that we didn't think about how the laptop power cord would have three prongs. But the car outlet only allows for two prongs, and therefore the extension cord only allowed for two as well.
We would just have to see how long the computer battery would last.
The speakers worked and that was good.
It'd been a while since we had some new movies in the house. I had purchased one splurge movie on sale and several others of the bargain basement variety in the months preceding our trip. I had thought to wrap them up and reveal them at intervals along the way.
I DID wrap them up in Target bags and hide them in the car.
I unveiled the splurge first. I passed back the "trash bag" to DS. He didn't seem to be thrilled with my choice, but he was happy to have something new to watch.
Disney's Bolt. A story about a road trip for a road trip. I liked the idea. DH thought it would be funny to report how DS, whom I called Bolt in my PTR, was watching Bolt.
We had some pillows in the car. DH and DS were lounging and stretched out as best they could be and watching a movie. Time for snacks.
We dug out the goodies that we had stocked up on. Are you familiar with Mountain Man? They come to DH's work every once in a long while. They had come just this week. We got mixed nuts, candied nuts, gummy bears, malt balls, black licorice, and pastels. Munch munch munch.
It was good to munch.
We were in traffic yet AGAIN.
I seriously thought that we would be approaching Tammany Trace Headquarters by now. If not well before. I had envisioned a lovely, long dinner break at the park. A bit of walking on the trail. DS playing on the playground. Here's where I thought to go:
http://www.tammanytrace.org. I thought that we might hit the Mandeville trailhead one way and the Abita Springs trailhead the other way.
But NOOO. We were in rush hour traffic in Baton Rouge.
It was at this very moment that I determined something about this trip. My epiphany moment, if you will. You can plan all you want to, but in the end, what will happen will happen.
As I worked on my clutch leg AGAIN, listening to Bolt, laughing with DH and DS, I realized that we were having a good time. Traffic, or no. You can't ruin a good time because it's not a part of the plan.
I've seen people do this though. I saw it more times than I care to count on this trip. A hurry-up-and-stop-doing-what-you-are-doing-so-we-can-go-get-to-where-we-are-supposed-to-be-so-we-can-have-fun type attitude.
I couldn't really hurry up through traffic, but you know what I mean.
And just as I was thinking such happy thoughts to myself, another bridge was on the horizon! Again, I didn't take these bridge pictures, I found them in cyperspace. Online. (PBS anyone?)
This is the Horace Wilkinson Bridge, which spans the Mississippi river to carry I-10 in Baton Rouge. I read though, that people don't really call it that name in Baton Rouge. They call it the Mississippi Bridge, or the New Bridge, because it is the newer of the two that cross the Mississippi in Baton Rouge.
Crossing more water. The easy way. I guess I have something of an appreciation for the engineering and construction of bridges. It makes me think of life before the bridges. Crossing the Mississippi to go west.
But we were going east! Directly east. Baton Rouge is where I-10 will curve south to go through New Orleans. They built highway 12 as a bypass, so that the eastbound traveler could stay on a more direct line between points.
All this traffic. The little Vibe was thirsty. We needed to stop and fill the tank.
I knew there was a Starbucks in Denham Springs, just on the other side of Baton Rouge. We would stop there and get some gas.
The South Range Avenue exit in Denham Springs is a keeper. Lots to see and do here. Immediately at the exit is a Bass Pro Shop. There's a lot of businesses around supporting the people coming in to visit there. Hotels. Gas stations. Fast food. Less fast food.
We filled the tank.
It was a dinner-ish hour, but we were full from all the snacking. Too full for Starbucks even. It was too hot anyway.
But there, in the distance. Distance being a stop light or so down the road. Was the store. The store that has saved many a weekend project.
The laptop battery was hanging strong, but who knows for how long? Time to supply some power.
DH and DS hung out in the car while I literally RAN into the store. I know my way around Home Depot. It was short work to get to the right aisle. A helpful gentleman took me right to the needed product.
A three prong to two prong converter! A stop at the self check. Charge $0.76 because NO I didn't have any cash.
The laptop screen got considerably brighter with power. The backseat was thrilled.
I was singing Willie as I got back onto Highway 12. "On the road again..."
I just can't bear to run the dryer so I've been hanging everything outside.
Having fun reading the road trip beginning!
Can't wait for more.
Exactly. Waking up BEFORE the alarm even goes off! You totally made me laugh. DH, too. Thanks for sharing.
