Weekend adventures

It's been awhile since I've done any kind of extensive roadtrip, but the first weekend of May found me perusing mapquest directions while navigating the way through the St. Louis metropolitan area. Becky was a quivering ball of nerves as she drove us, at 9:30 p.m., through the yellow-tinted lighting of Interstates 70 and 64 while semi's rushed past us on either side. Our destination was Belleville, IL, the location of our friend Ben's wedding reception. We couldn't get there soon enough to suit us. It never occured to me that the area would be so...well...citified but while traversing Interstate 70 East before merging onto Interstate 64 East, my directions indicated that it was a 40+ mile distance. Where I live, 40 miles would take you through mostly farm country with the occasional small town to break up the monotony. I never found farm country to be claustrophic since it is, by definition, a wide open space but St. Louis...*shudders*. You couldn't pay me to live there!

Overall it wasn't a bad drive but we were thrown for quite a loop when the large signs along the roadway indicated that the Martin Luther King bridge was closed. The mapquest directions had us going over the MLK bridge and Becky freaked out by what we were supposed to do next. I, on the other hand, tend to be a go-with-the-flow type of gal and said there would likely be detour signs. There weren't. *sigh* BUT, we weren't lost yet. I also had the directions given by our hotel, so I set down the mapquest pages, pulled out the other directions (the whole three lines of them) and proceeded to continue navigating. Becky was, understandably, stressed and desperately in need of a cigarette by this point. I wasn't too worried. We were still being directed to take major interstates and those would be well-marked.

There was a moment of amusement when I told Becky she would need to drive down a road, go around a circle and turn left onto East Main Street. She had never heard of a round-about and didn't understand what those directions meant until we actually reached that area and I could give her explicit turning instructions, saying "See? You go around the circle and go left on the road branching off of it." It was comical. (Fortunately my sister and I had to traverse one of these when I visited her in St. Petersburg, FL last fall, so I knew what to expect.) Becky, by this point, was in full Momma-paranoia mode and saw harmful intentions in every person on the street. (Zander, thank goodness, was peacefully sleeping in his seat.) Not wanting to dismiss Becky's concerns inconsiderately, I carefully inspected the type of individuals hanging out outside the bars and coffee shops. I also took note of what kind of vehicles were parked along the street and in the hotel parking lot. I saw nothing to indicate that we were about to be staying in the ghetto or killed in our sleep but prudently refrained from commenting on my thoughts. hee hee. We were very glad to get checked in and settled down. Zander, of course, having slept all the way there, was wide awake past midnight. I didn't notice. I fell asleep right away. lol

The next day had us up rather early only to discover that Becky had inadvertently forgot Zander's formula mix while packing the bags. We had enough milk in the bottles from the day before to give him a little something so he didn't go hungry. Becky also had some jar food for him to inhale so we were okay for a few hours. As soon as we had gotten ready, we went in search of a grocery store, secured some formula and then headed to the home of Ben's in-laws for the hoopla. We could only stay for a few hours but enjoyed the time nonetheless. Zander enjoyed staring at the brightly colored japanese lanterns hanging from the tent structure and it was nice to be able to chat with Ben and his wife Kenda, along with their families. Zander was given a frosted cupcake to "enjoy" and he did definitely enjoy it. It took us quite awhile to wipe off the globs of frosting from his hands, arms, clothes, face, hair and all the places he touched Becky. lol I didn't get a good photo of it on my camera so am unable to show you evidence.

Not long after the cupcake adventure, we headed for home. Becky was again a nervous wreck about driving through St. Louis but she made it okay. Zander did not sleep through it this time and woke up crying (a.k.a. screaming) several times. Becky couldn't stop until we'd gotten to an area she deemed safe and out of the city so the poor little guy had to vent his anger for awhile. Nothing that I did lessened his cries. As soon as we stopped, I was digging in my purse for some ibuprofen and thanking the gods for the break. When we got back on the road, I drove and Becky comforted Zander in the backseat. We switched places halfway home and finally made it back to Iowa exhausted but happy to be back. My pillow-top mattress never looked so welcoming despite the overwhelming silence in the house. I didn't sleep real well without the girls with me so was up early the next morning to retrieve the them from the vet's boarding facilities. I've decided that it'll be awhile before I attempt another roadtrip. Zander's not old enough to enjoy the sights and the cost increases significantly when it becomes overnighters!