The Hunger Games

Day two under our belts – by far, the longest and most brutal drive day for the week – thankfully behind us. Got on the road around 8:30 for a quick trip to Lincoln, NE to meet up with Damon’s family at the Village Inn for some good breakfast fare… and world famous pie. Nothing sets you up for 10 hours of driving more than a full belly and an impending sugar crash.

Shout out to the Lincoln Dresselhauses for an awesome visit and breakfast.

The first few hours out of Lincoln were supposed to be my shot at driving the big rig since on the map, it was literally a 3-hour arrow straight shot. Nary a turn or curve anywhere on the map. Unfortunately, we failed to take into consideration the wind gusts famous in the plains, and seeing Damon clutching the steering wheel for dear life with sweat dripping down his forehead did not install the needed confidence for me to take over driving. Damon very distressed that we were passed by a Smart Car.

On the bright side, we now have water and I am proud to say that I have the distinct title of having been the first one to pee while in a moving vehicle. Tyler eventually made it into the moving pee club but was a little bummed that he has to sit in order to minimize splash damage.

So how did we pass the time driving across Nebraska? Sum it up with “Hunger Games”. We had Sydney reading the book to Lauren in the “dining room” while Damon listened to books on tape. Eventually we put it on the big stereo and we all listened for a few hours. Yes, most of us have also read the series &/or seen the movie, but we are all about Hunger Games this week.

We crossed the border into Colorado around dinner time and stopped at a rest area for a very fancy RV-made taco feast – watched the sunset, stretched our legs, and got back in for the final 3-hours. The girls and I decided to crank up the generator and watch Footloose on our 42” flat screen. Damon got very frustrated trying to hook up all of the cables and was stomping around while we made fun (yes, we are a very supportive group). Sydney summed it up best by saying that dad probably pooped out all of his sunshine and rainbows at the rest area.

We did eventually get it hooked up but the road noise was too loud in the front so we retreated to the back bedroom and laid in bed all huddled around an iPad trying to watch. The bouncing eventually got to all of us as we were repeatedly group launched into the air and we finally gave up.

So why not much mention of Tyler today? Well… he has made “the cave” (aka the bed above the cab) his permanent home. He curtained himself in for most of the day and would just dangle his top half out out now and again so we knew he was alive.
Pulled into Denver close to midnight and were welcomed by “the Denver Clines” who put us up for the night. Kids slept outside in the RV,

Quote of the day (tie):

Damon: I don’t really know at this point if I should be encouraging petting the driver (in response to Tyler dangling out of the cave to rub his head at regular intervals)

Sydney: God we are so hillbilly (in response to us draining the fat from our taco meat in the grass at the rest stop)