The Adventures of Nana, 5 preschoolers, and a 2000 mile road trip . . . Day 2

We awoke this morning to the kids stirring and before long everyone had risen, dressed, and packed. Our hotel breakfast offered fruit, baked goods, cereal, and juice, so we ate our fill before loading up again. 

Our first stop was the Don Herrington Discovery Center in Amarillo, which proved to be an excellent free diversion. Like most children's science museums, it contained a variety of pseudo-educational, mostly functional, brightly colored activities such as a wall size lite-brite, a dance/theater stage, a room full of taxadermied birds of prey, a dog mating simulation, and pool table on the floor made of soccer balls. 

We enjoyed meeting a very fat tiger salamander, a great horned toad, and a shy hedgehog named Finn. After several hours we dragged the children out only because we needed to get on the road for a long day of driving.

We hopped into the car and hit the road, planning for an immediate stop for lunch and gas. However, we found ourselves instantly in the middle of nowhere. Yes, that's right the town immediately disappeared with nothing to be seen for miles around but grass, shrubs, rocks, fences, mountains and the occasional farmhouse. While we enjoyed the scenery the hungry children and the rapidly emptying gas tank began to make us nervous. In fact, we franticly searched the internet for the nearest gas station while calculating whether or not our gas would hold out. As we entered the first "town" the Google-proficied gas station failed to materialize. Our last hope, the next town, waited 13 miles down the road. Only 18 miles of gas remained. We turned off the the air conditioner and tried to avoid braking as we coasted into town. Luckily our salvation was right where Google maps indicated. We purchased 25.4 gallons of gas for our 26 gallon tank. 

With that crisis averted, we offered the kids mini-notebooks and mechanical pencils to placate them for twenty miles until a town with a decent selection of food. We survived lunch at Taco Bell and the afternoon's drive passed without incident.

"I have to go to the bathroom," and our thirst caused us to pull off the road in Trinidad, where we ran into their National Night Out celebration. We grabbed some happy hour Sonic drinks and they graciously shared hot dogs, chips, and cotton candy as our children enjoyed the playground and bounce house. We knew that we'd be pushing our time, but we let the kids play a while. 

We boarded the car happily, except for Troy who lost it over leaving the bounce house, and started the long push for Denver. We opted to get past the city at night to avoid morning traffic - a gambit for sure with the kids, the time change, and the sugar they ingested. We located a hotel in Loveland just north of Denver and set out. As we neared it, darkness set in, and we realized that the kids had eaten at 4pm and would need something to eat before bed. We formulated a plan to stop at a fast food place, pick up a snack, and eat it in the room before bed. To placate the troops in the back seat, we handed out glow bracelets. For the second time that day our luck held, Chick-fil-A was near the hotel and open, the kids ate happily, and this time everyone did go to bed nicely. The best part: hot water. (Confession: I spent forever in the shower washing my hair, shaving my legs, and savoring the hot water. That might be why I didn't write this last night.) 

Stay tuned for the next installment, coming whenever we have time to write . . . 

Bonus pictures: