afwdwfan
DIS Dad #460
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2010
The Drive
Our trip began on Friday December 12, but let me start with some background information. I was supposed to be at a conference Thursday through Saturday, so I was about 2 ½ hours from home Friday morning. I attended the conference until about noon before I returned home.
Once I got home, I hauled all of our luggage out into DW’s Suburban and packed everything away as stategically as possible. I really put the old Tetris skills to good use. This is what I ended up with.
DW said that MiL and FiL only had 3 bags, so I thought we were in great shape. Everything was packed and we had plenty of room.
I headed into the house and went to bed to get a few hours of sleep. DW coaches cheerleading at a high school and she had to leave that evening to help with her cheerleaders for a basketball game. Before I went to bed, I told her our plan was to leave at around 8… and I subsequently set my alarm for 8pm.
Between you and me, 9pm was my real target departure time anyway.
MiL and FiL were coming over to watch the kids while I slept and DW was at the school. They brought over some pizza so we could all grab a bite before hitting the road. I woke up after a few hours of sleep and took a shower to wake myself back up. I headed downstairs, ate the last 2 slices of pizza and grabbed a Mtn Dew thinking that everyone else was ready to go and waiting for me.
Yeah, that’s what I get for thinking. I didn’t know what the hold up was, but DW had to do something before we could go. I asked MiL if I needed to load their bags, but she said that had already been done. Great! Nothing to do but sit around and wait…
The kids at this point are running around the house going absolutely crazy. DS knew as soon as I woke up we were leaving for Disney World, so he was just bouncing off the walls and ready to get rolling.
At around 8:45, DW finally walks into the kitchen.
With 3 more bags.
In addition to what I’d already loaded.
“I thought we were done loading the car?!?”
“Well, I couldn’t pack the things I wasn’t done with yet.”
Then that wasn’t “everything,” was it???
“Well, I couldn’t pack the things I wasn’t done with yet.”
Then that wasn’t “everything,” was it???
FiL and I went outside and finally managed to find small spaces to eventually cram everything in. I was a monumental task. I was literally holding things from falling out the back while shutting the hatch and pulling my hand out at the last second.
We hit the road at 9:04 so it definitely paid off that I told DW I wanted to leave at 8. Hmmm… maybe I should have used that trick more on this trip. Hindsight is 20/20.
We headed south on I-65 with the GPS showing me an ETA of 11 am at Art of Animation. I knew we’d be making stops along the way, but I was feeling pretty good for my noonish target arrival.
Until we hit Louisville. Kind of funny that I'm typing this as I watch Louisville get destroyed by Georgia in the Belk Bowl. Serves 'em right.
I knew there was construction near the river. I thought that it wouldn’t be too bad at around 10 or 11 pm. There I go trying to think again. Never pays off.
A few miles north of Louisville, my GPS started to alert me there was about a 5 minute backup ahead of me. Ok, I didn’t expect it to be completely clear and smooth sailing. Still not too bad.
As we get closer the delay time started growing. By the time I got within a few miles of the Ohio River, I-65 was a parking lot.
As it turns out, they chose that evening to hang some new road signs over the top of the interstate. As the highway crossed the bridge, traffic was being merged from 3 lanes down to 1. By the time we passed the road crew, that ETA display had changed from 11:00 am to 11:45 am. Nothing like being delayed 45 minutes before you even get a mile out of the state.
The rest of the night went relatively well. We were about 5 hours into the drive before we stopped for gas in Tennessee. The kids had slept well. The adults who weren’t driving got some shut eye too.
Unfortunately, the kids had no interest in sleeping after we stopped. We put Planes in the DVD player, and DS eventually faded out, but DD was having none of it. She wanted to be held. I ended up pulling off the highway just north of Atlanta at a McDonald’s. DW thought she could hold DD for a bit and get her to sleep.
It didn’t work.
But it did get her calmed down enough that we could strap her in and continue. Before we got a mile down the road, both kids were once again sleeping.
I think everyone slept through most of Georgia, but MiL and FiL were both awake just after sunrise. I asked if they needed to stop and when they said no, I told them we’d just keep driving until the kids woke up or we got to Lake City, FL, whichever came first.
We ended up rolling into Lake City… at maybe 10 am? I didn’t write it down, but I just wanted to get out and stretch my legs. We went to Cracker Barrell there, even though I knew it would delay us even longer than we wanted. I thought it would be a good idea to get everyone out of the car for a while. And it might help to have a really filling late breakfast that could possibly get us through lunch time without having to find something to eat later on. We filled our stomachs, filled the gas tank and we were on our way.
We ended up rolling onto Disney property well after our target of “noonish”. It was closer to 2 pm. The kids were going absolutely batty from being trapped in the car for so long. I think MiL had gone loopy too because she was sitting behind me taking pictures of flowers and orange trees as we drove by.
I don’t have her camera, but I’d imagine she has approximately 400,000 pictures from our arrival day that are just green blurs.
We exited the highway behind an SUV pulling a UHaul trailer. I made a comment to FiL that I’m glad we didn’t need one of those.
We were following the trailer down the road and I could see this beautiful sight up ahead.
(taken from our 2012 trip because nobody got a picture this time)
All of a sudden the vehicle in front of me with the trailer slammed on the brakes and swerved into the left lane. By the time I could see why, I had to follow their evasive maneuver.
Some idiot stopped in the right lane and had his door open, standing in the middle of the road taking a picture.
Right next to one of those little signs that say don’t stop to take a picture.
Oh well, at least this means I’m on Disney property. I can’t be too mad. I just honked my horn as I drove past.
Look, kids. A deer!
Thanks for joining. Definitely a familiar name, and I'm glad you stopped by. 
that is INSANE!
That moron, obviously.
I get being excited, but come on!! Looking forward to more.
Never trust us when we say 'everything' is packed 
Talk about putting a damper on the trip!
