Jeff, Jayce and I spent 16 of the last 48 hours in the car.  The relatively new Honda Odyssey has made jaunts like that one far more pleasant than they once were, but even so, I could think of about a million things I’d rather do.  Seeing as how I was cooped up in the front seat of the minivan though, I found myself doing a lot of listening.  Here is how I passed the time:

       -Listening to Barney’s “Outdoor Fun” DVD as it played on a seemingly unending loop (Thank God for that media package).
       - Listening to Jeff singing “Oh This Is A Boring Ride” to the rough tune of 99 Bottles of Beer on The Wall.
       -Listening to the CD we gave as favors at our wedding.  Over and over and over again.  It seems there is very little radio reception between here and Santa Fe.
       - Listening to Jayce cry and yell and scream in protest to all the sitting.  And singing.
       - Listening to Jeff’s ideas about how we could help pass the time.  “You want to talk about ideas for new TV shows?”  Yeah, yeah!  Could we?!

     It wasn’t all about the listening though. 

     I spent quite some time reacting with robotic body movements any time Jayce piped up from the back seat.  Sure.  Laugh all you want to.  It held his attention long enough to provide a much needed respite from the screaming.

     I uttered words to my husband that I never thought would pass my lips.  “I don’t want to talk about Disney World anymore, okay?”  Stop the presses people.

     I dodged the occasional empty water bottle, discarded shoe, or random DVD case being lunged toward the front seat by the disgruntled toddler behind me.

     I learned that once the gas light comes on in the van I have at least a 30 mile cushion to try to make it to a gas station.

     I joined my husband in his vocal celebrations at the passing of each 50 miles.  If you happened to be traveling on I-10 or I-25 and you were privy to a couple hooting, hollering, howling, whistling, and “raising the roof” I should apologize.  Not to worry though; none of our fellow road warriors were harmed in the shenanigans.  It was all harmless fun.  As Jeff put it, “breaking the trip into chunks helps pass the time.”  Um.  Yeah.  The jury is still out on that.

     I imagined what the voice on the GPS would really say if her programmers had allowed her to be frank with us.  “Turn around dummy, you missed the turn.  Again.”  And, “You idiots.  I warned you the exit was coming.  Serves you right for ignoring me.”

     As you can see my weekend was full of fun.  And the best part?  The best part is that we get to do it all over again in 20 short days.  Woo hoo.  Now this is summer road-tripping at it’s finest my friends.