The kids were starting to show their travel weariness today.  Even the new books and activities we had for them didn’t keep them from arguing, pestering, complaining, etc.

After driving 6 hours, we stopped at the Children’s Discovery Museum in Normal, Illinois.  Even this diversion didn’t serve in calming the kids down much.

We were then met with the misfortune of trying to figure out what to do about supper, how far to drive, and where to stay.  Decisions that are easy when driving with two adults are complicated with kids and a food allergy.

The time change put the kids’ bellies on “it’s late for supper” much before the clock said it was.  We wanted to drive as far as possible in daylight.  We did not want fast food for supper.  But by the time we got to an allergy-friendly sit-down restaurant, it was busy with a waiting line.

The girls fell asleep the last 30 minutes before our supper stop, but managed to wake up calmly so our meal was quiet, even though they didn’t eat much.  Then we had to decide which would be worse: keeping them quiet in a motel room, or driving longer and risking them all falling asleep and then being awake half the night.

Since we may be in for some interesting weather tomorrow, we opted to drive another hour and get closer to home.  All the kids fell asleep in the car.  We checked in, got them upstairs, dropped them in bed, clothes and all . . . and they all went right back to sleep!

Hopefully the last six hours of our trip will go well tomorrow.  We’re in familiar territory now, the road one we’ve traveled many times before.

We had a surprising calculation today–our stop-to-stop direct route for the trip was to be 2700 miles.  By the time we get home, we’ll be right at 3700, which means we drove 1000 miles of side trips, back roads, and other fun along the way.  Today we inadvertently traveled a few miles of Route 66, which fits in nicely with our Lincoln Highway and National Road travels.

The kids seem to be ready to get home; the boys ready to get back to school, the girls missing some of their toys.  Quite honestly, though, I’ve enjoyed almost every minute of it.  (It’s hard to say I liked the sickness or the kids’ not-so-fine moments.)  I’ve loved spending the time with my family, seeing and experiencing new things together.  It’s been a great trip!

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