Notes from a 12 Hour Car Ride

1.  Maybe I should have planned the trip a couple weeks earlier to coincide with the Obama's Maine vacation.  I would happily have flown with the dog and maybe have saved the Obamas the flak over having a separate jet fly their dog to Bar Harbor.  It would have been the dog, Jack, Casey and me.  Much more fiscally responsible.

2.  I listened to Glenn Beck for 3 hours.  That might be a bit much, even for a conservative.

3.  On another talk radio show, I heard about a book wherein the author blames most of the world's problems on air conditioning.  I just tried to search for it on the internet but didn't find it.  It's interesting to think about how things would be different without air conditioning, but I'm not quite ready to blame the world's ills on it.

4.  Jack only asked how much longer about 4 times.  And he didn't start until about 5 hours out. 

5.  Casey is not interested in a clipboard with a carrying case for crayons, markers, paper etc.  She took the stickers and markers out, gave the clipboard to me and then the crayons ended up all over the floor.  Poor move on my part to give her stickers that she couldn't peel off the paper.  She kept handing them to me.

6.  Jack said that we would know we were in Maine when we saw the horses.  I still don't know what horses he was talking about.  I was really hoping he'd surprise me and point out some horses that I had forgotten about.  As we got closer to the cottage he said he would show them to me, but all of a sudden (or 12 hours later) the trip was over.

7.   Jack thought it was always winter in Maine.  I was wishing for a globe or map to help explain how it's still summer, but not Virginia summer.

8.  Hearing Casey try to pronounce Connecticut and Massachusetts helped pass a couple minutes of the trip more amusingly.

9.  Rice Krispie Squares are a good dinner...right? 

10.  Despite the fact that it's 6 hours of driving once we reach the Maine border, it still feels like we're on the home stretch once we cross the Piscataqua River.