Frequent Driver Miles?

The Boston Dornisches have been spending a lot of time in the car this summer. I'll try to refrain from comments about gas prices, miles per gallon, or the difference between a "rest stop" and a "pit stop", when you live miles from Boston, but hours from everywhere else you want to go, these are just things you learn to live with.

Let me take you back two Saturdays ago when Margo and I had a wedding in a little town that was 12 miles east of Nowhere, Rhode Island. We were 10 minutes late, but the wedding was very nice, although as a typical man I have to be honest and tell you that at his point I have been to so many weddings they are all starting to look alike. This one had a beautiful old mansion in a touristy town, white flowery cake, "We Are Family" booming from the band's* speakers (which were too loud for the venue), but the place was about 75 minutes South of Margo's parents' house where Maggie was spending the night. After the wedding we drove the 75 minutes North just so we could get in the car on Sunday morning and drive the 6.5 hours South again to Sea Isle City, New Jersey for our vacation.
*Side Note: Margo and I have been to so many weddings, that we are starting to see the bands for a second time. The band at this wedding performed at one of the weddings a few years ago.

Six days later we packed up after a great week in SIC and drove the 6.5 hours back home. Tomorrow we are driving 2+ hoursup into New Hampshire to spend 2 nights at Story Land. Story Land is a small theme park geared toward little kids, 6 and under maybe. I have heard all about how wonderful the place is, and how much Maggie will love it. (After the smiles and laughs she produced on the Boardwalk rides in New Jersey I have no doubt that she will like it.) My biggest concern is that an amusement park designed for small children might not be the most comfortable place for an individual who is 6'7", 245 pounds and working with a bad lower back/leg combo. If you are having trouble picturing what I mean, try this at home...find a balloon, fill it about half full with water, attempt to stuff it all into a pint glass...easy? Pretty?? Of course if you try hard enough it might fit, but I bet some of it is bulging out the top. Just keep that mental image with you until Tuesday and also keep me in your prayers. It's not all bad for me though, did I mention that the hotel where we are staying is adjacent to outlet shops? Oh sure, a big spread of everything from J. Jill to L.L. Bean. If you can't reach me on my cell phone it is probably because I am in a dressing room with no reception. But seriously, I did hear there is a children's store up there that sells clothes for like $.98 an outfit, can you believe that?!?!

To continue our summer drive event, what is next weekend? That's right, it is the Becklets Christening in Scranton! Our Honda Pilot should be called the "Auto-Pilot" because it can almost make that trip without us by now. 4.5 hours down; 4.5 back up if you are keeping track.

Please don't get me wrong, I actually don't mind all of this travel, it just sometimes seems like I spend more time inside a car that out of one. The good parts are that Maggie does really well for about 6 hours and 10 minutes, then she reaches her limit and lets us know she wants out. It's a cute notification system really; she screams progressively louder and gets exponentially redder in the forehead while arching upward and straining the belts in the carseat...so sweet.
Margo, on the other hand, well she and I have always travelled well together. If we get lost we both say "Unbelievable!", pull out the map and look for the best way back to where we want to be, although don't be surprised if one of us gets a GPS unit at some point SOON. If we hit traffic we both say "Typical" and one of us in in charge of scanning the radio stations until we get a full report then we turn on the music and not worry about it. Bad weather or night driving = my responsibility; early morning driving = Margo's. So you see it is really not that bad.

Unfortunately the picture load feature is not working on Blogger so I can't put any pictures up. I may try in a little while but MArgo and I have a wedding tonight in Boston, don't worry, we are car pooling! If I don't get any up, I'll put some up after our trip to NH.

See you all later!