We wanted to get started around 7am. It was an ambitious deadline, and made a very pretty whooshing sound as it flew by. By the time we packed every square inch of our cars with the remaining boxes, luggage, etc. it was about 8:30. We finally rolled out around 9am.

We had three vehicles: one 2007 Toyota Sienna carrying my wife, two kids, my mother-in-law, and the luggage/boxes of Amusing Goods for the kids, one cat and one frog, one 2006 Lexus carrying my father-in-law, one child, and several musical instruments, and a twenty-six foot Penske diesel trunk, which I was piloting.

There is a silent agreement, perhaps even a vow which is taken by any group of people who travels together.  It’s the only way to make it across country in a decent amount of time. Usually, it stands at the marker to switch drivers, stretch legs, etc. This is the Vow of Holding It.  If you can synchronize the pee schedule, you can actually make decent time.

We didn’t and it cost us. 

Between pee stops, food stops, and fuel stops, we ran behind by about four house. That’s twelve hours in the car, for those of you following along.

Some of the highlights of the first day:

• Pilot truck stops are an oasis in a desert of blacktop. However, trying to fill a diesel when the tank is passenger side is a multi-step process that consists of going inside, paying for *some* gas, putting the passenger-side fuel dispenser into the tank, walking around to the driver-side fuel dispenser, removing that hose and laying it on the ground, flipping the toggle to turn the pump on, walking back around to the passenger-side, filling the tank, replacing all the dispensers, and going back inside to pay for the rest of the gas.
• A picture of my mother-in-law sitting in the passenger seat of the truck and finding a hidden copy  of Hustler in the visor of the cab of the truck left by the previous renter is burned into my mind.
• I spent an hour traveling behind a Penske truck, going 60 in a 70 zone.  After that iniital hour, I realized that I was not following our truck. *sigh*
• Nathan Lowell is a genius. I listened to all of Quarter Share during my driving time, and it was excellent. Suberb writing is not what makes him a genius. He’s taken two subjects, the Value of Education and the Basics of Economics and managed to make them so interesting that I could not stop listening. I understand why people have been raving about these books. I’m looking forward Half Share today. (I also love how he’s taken naval novels in the spirit of C.S. Forester, Patrick O’Brien, and Alexander Kent and placed it in a sci-fi settings. Weirdly, that makes it easier for me to follow.)
• The cat decided that 2am was the proer time to begin crying and begging to go outside. Since we can’t let her out (or we’d lose her), that joyous sound continued until…well…now. (7:50am CST)

(Sorry for the late post. Motel did not have wifi. Look for day two tomorrow.)