August 7: From Kentucky to Texas

Somehow, even with only four hours of sleep, I woke up completely on my own at six thirty this morning and Dominica was awake a few minutes later.  We both just got up and started packing up the hotel room.  Since we were awake we might as well get this show on the road.  We had to stop early last night so we have extra miles that we need to cover today.

Dominica and the girls went down to breakfast while I got in the shower since the girls take so long to eat breakfast (or any meal.)  This let us get things done in parallel.  We were fed and on the road nice and early.  Not super early, but we did well and took advantage of our free meal.   Luciana was even happy to eat her scrambled eggs.  That almost never happens.

We were packed up in our little Hyundai and on the road before nine.  It is a long way to go from Bowling Green to Houston.  We really had wanted to be in Nashville or even Alabama before stopping last night but it just did not make any sense.

We had a good drive today.  We made excellent time and the little car did a great job.  The gas mileage on that thing has been excellent, it costs hardly anything to drive across the country with it.  We are easily getting the forty miles to the gallon that they told us that it got.  I’m moving fast, but have the car on Eco mode all of the time.  You really feel the lack of power, but it keeps you from burning fuel accidentally.

We hit essentially zero construction and almost no real traffic the whole way.  We got a little spotty rain here and there but the weather cooperated well for nearly the entire drive as well.  It was a very good day for driving.

We stopped every so often to get coffee at McDonald’s here and there which let us take regular bathroom breaks as well.  I like to get out and stretch so stopped every few hours works out well and keeps the troops pretty happy.  If we do it well, getting coffee and taking bathroom breaks together, we only stop a tiny bit more than doing the drive in a death march fashion but it is so much more comfortable.

We were into Houston around eleven.  We beat the Google Maps estimated time, even with all of our stops.  What a great day!  We even stopped at some point in Mississippi and got Subway for dinner and ate it there, and did this well.

All of the little cousins were awake and came out to great us as we pulled in.  We were exhausted but it took an hour or two for us to spin down and manage to get off to bed.

Are arrival time is perfect, Brittany has been having contractions and might head into the hospital yet tonight, but more likely tomorrow.  So we arrived just in time to get to see the new baby as soon as he decides to grace us with his presence.