Survival lessons from a road trip

So, our family recently took our yearly vacation up north to PA to visit the extended family. This trip was different than the others, instead of the four of us riding in one car together our boys were going to follow us in their car to finish their final destination of the trip in Chicago, IL where they will work all summer at a day camp. As we prepared our mini convoy everyone made sure to get all the important items you need on the road....snacks, drinks and the ever vital electronics. We all coordinated our GPS, set up our charging stations for our phones, ipods and laptops (each car was equipped with two cigarette lighters). It's when you strike out on an adventure as this that makes you appreciate the beauty of cell phones and texting!

All was going smooth as our two cars traveled north on 95 heading to our first stop at Aunt Donna's house in Troutman NC. Tom and I were enjoying our okra chips and candy while listening to the ipod feeling spoiled with our new found freedom - the ability to have an open conversation together in the car. While his brother drove, Caleb was enjoying catching up on the 3rd season of 24 on his laptop. John was happily driving along listening to every Van Halen song he had on his ipod playlist. And then it happened......while driving through Georgia a devastating blow to our perfect traveling scenario. It started with a text from Caleb asking how to get our power inverter plug to work in the cigarette lighter so he could charge up his laptop to finish his programing. When it became evident that texting was not going to work in figuring this dilemma out I called Caleb to try and talk him through some steps to find a solution. The frustration mounted and tempers began to flare, AND it was lunch time in the mist of this electrical crisis and pappa was hungry! To save time we found a rest stop to eat the small lunch we packed, and to defuse the technical difficulty's in John's car.

By the time the boys parked, their car was running HOT (not from the engine). Tom and I had to get out the parental fire extinguisher to put out the flaming tempers spewing from the passengers. The conclusion to this mystery was a blown fuse to the cigarette lighter in John's car, you see unlike our Buick, the Chevy is not able to have this power inverter and an ipod plugged in at the same time. After getting things somewhat under control with the attitudes the whole family stood on the grassy knoll of the rest stop and had a family conference to stop the blame game over this "sabotage conspiracy theory" so we could continue our drive. Tom and I felt like two police officers trying to settle a domestic dispute with the "he said, he said" back and forth! The next trip maybe I'll bring a gym teachers whistle and act like a football referee and when things get out of hand I'll eject the player out of the game!

Careful placement was made with the weary travelers to avoid any further sparks to ignite, it was agreed that Caleb would drive and John would put on his head phones and listen to his ipod (thank God the ipod battery lasts a LONG time!!!). I decided to add some reading material to my bag of goodies for my ride, the car manual to the Chevy, so I could locate where the fuse boxes were and which fuse in particular operated the cigarette lighter. When we stopped for gas in NC Tom located a Pilot truck stop station since they would be most likely to have fuses for sale, it was there he then took on the role of shop class teacher. Like a pro he showed the boys how to fix this minor (but important) repair and I could swear I heard the angelic choirs singing when Caleb went to test out the results and yelled out "It's working"!!!! We arrived at Aunt Donna's the happy family!

Our valuable lesson on this trip was one not just learned by the boys but by the parents as well, NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT EXTRA CAR FUSES!!!