Things I Learned Last Week

-There are 9 Shoneys, 15 Cracker Barrels and 30 Waffle Houses along the highway between Atlanta and Nashville. (1)
-Sometimes all at once.

(The view from our hotel window.)
-I would never want an onboard navigation system because part of the fun of driving someplace new is hysterically giggling about a missed exit/street as the driver speeds by it. (2)
-Flying out of Denver at 7 o'clock pm gets you to Chattanooga at about 3 o'clock am, local time. (3)
-When we order 4 taco supremes, 3 burritos, 1 taco salad and 2 large Dr. Peppers at midnight, I feel compelled to explain that, no, we aren't high, just traveling. (4)
-Kam is a very easy kid to travel with.
-So is Joey (for the most part).
-That's a good thing.
-A fire alarm is not a fun way to wake up on your second day of vacation. (5)

-I have forgotten proper fire alarm evacuation procedure. (6)
-Most people don't take fire alarms seriously. (7)
-It's hard to homeschool about the injustices faced by blacks when you're bawling at the Martin Luther King memorial.
-I seemed to be the only one bawling at the MLK memorial. (8)
-Going to the south does not guarantee warm weather.
-It is impossible to stay at a hotel with a swimming pool and hot tub and not go swimming at least once, especially when you're staying there with a kid. (9)
-Joey cries when Kam cries.
-There's a town in Tennessee named White. (10)
-Apparently, I was a rotten kid.
-I'm much nicer now. (11)
-I wish my whole family lived within (a reasonable) driving distance.
-A week of eating out leaves me craving nothing but salad and water.
-Jeff gets cold at night when I'm not in bed with him.
-It's good to be home. (12)


(1) Honestly, it seemed like more, but Joey kept a running tally and those are the numbers.
(2) And then, after you've circled round and taken the exit, finding out that it is, in fact, the wrong direction after all.
(3) Taking into account the odd missed exit or two.
(4) Though we were still giggling from the missed exit, so that probably didn't help prove my point.
(5) It was a false alarm.
(6) Joey reminded me that I should have checked if the door was hot before opening it.
(7) When we showed up in the lobby in pajamas, the front desk clerk asked if we were there to check out. Um, no. We were responding to the blaring horn and flashing lights. Silly us. Everyone else was already eating the complementary breakfast. Apparently, they made it there faster than us because we used the stairs, not the elevators.
(8) Which I found strange. I mean they had pictures of lynchings and of protest marches. And the idea of civil disobedience for a righteous cause and the cart that carried his casket through town. I mean, my God. I'm crying now.
(9) We went just before checking out on the last day.
(10) !?
(11) I think.
(12) Despite getting to deal with post-vacation colds and a broken furnace.