The Insane, Crazy, Tortuous or Most Amazing Family Vacation Begins

Day 1 begins for Jessica and I about 11am on Monday to drive 4 hours to arrive in MS at 3am on Monday morning.  We quickly passed out at mom and dad's house only to be woken up around 5am with Isaac crawling in the bed with us, and he later admits "I slept by daddy because I couldn't fit in the middle, there was no room!"  Glad to know he loves me, but he loves to snuggle with his mom more!  Then around 7am, Kati decides its her turn and she comes to snuggle with her mom, so finally around 9am we arise from our deaden sleep like state to start off the trip.  We then made the run to Southaven to see Maw maw Katherine, get snacks, bought a camera, and of course Jessica makes me shop for "back to school" shoes for the kids.  Granted, the boys have never actually had their "own" tennis shoes but all I got to say is what is wrong with hand me downs!
Finally 11am comes.  Justin calls me so that we can run over and pick up our chariot for the week.  A luxurious 15 passenger van!  We get to the counter at Enterprise only to hear some awesome stories of people not having all their paperwork or money to actually pick up their rental.  I actually kinda laugh on the inside thinking, "how hard can this be?"  Little did I know what the next hour would entail to actually finally be handed the keys to our chariot so that we can begin our trip out West!!  Long story short, I have to admit I was a little rude and irritated at all tricks Enterprise makes you do before you can actually drive their vehicle but Jessica gives me a pep talk to help me to calm down (it really didn't work, but she tried), Justin has to call State Farm on his own to actually get them to verify he was covered so he could drive, I have to rush to get Jessica so she can sign something because she wouldn't answer her phone (go figure), and I "throw" (Jessica says I threw it, but I am pretty sure it was just a polite toss on the counter that quickly slide across the counter and to the nice gentleman trying to help check us out).
Then the van finally pulls out and heads to Independence for the load up! Now not really sure that 11 people in a 15 person vehicle is the greatest of ideas because where will all the luggage, snacks, and 75 million electronic devices go?  Not to mention the 6 pillows, 3 car seats, cooler, games and 10 blankets!  But needless to say it all "fit."
Around 3:40ish we are pulling out of 858 Pryor and O'Fallon here we come.  We are looking at right about 400 miles for the first leg of the run. It starts out real smooth with me at the wheel and we made some amazing time thanks to my mad driving skills!  Although, right after entering Missouri, I saw a policeman that pulled out right after I passed him and my heart began to sink!  Really, who needs a ticket on vacation!  I didn't mention to anyone that I thought I was gonna get pulled over, then 1/2mile later I pass what looked to me like a metal dog feeder that had fallen off a truck in the middle of the interstate and on comes the blue lights of the copper!  And thank the Lord to whoever lost a dog feeder cause he stopped to get the feeder off the road instead of pulling me over!  But not really sure why I would have been pulled over anyways, because I am sure that I wasn't really speeding!

 

Dinner time comes and we had to test our catching skills out at Lamberts!  We got stuff on some good old fashion southern style cooking!  Hot Rolls bouncing off our heads (that did happen to me, but no one from our group actually saw it), meat loaf, roast beef, fried okra, turnip greens, sweet corn, onions & taters, pot pie, chicken fingers.....yes I know you getting hungry so I will stop.  Overstuffed, we load back into the van and Justin takes the wheel to cruise through St. Louis and into O'Fallon. But apparently kids didn't get

overstuffed cause 3 mins after starting down the road.  Isaac starts screaming "I want a Laffy Taffy, I'm hungry."  Really, you just ate 3 huge buttery rolls, green beans, roast beef, corn and taters but your hungry.  So I did like any good loving father, I told him he had to wait an hour and then about 15 mins later, he asks again and the others begin to chime in with him.  Needless to say they eventually got their Laffy Taffy's  which of course is a snack that apparently mom "always" buys for road trips.
About an 45mins away from O'Fallon the Justin and Teresa show begins.  They begin nagging at Bruce, sorry me not sure why that was 3rd person, because he/ I had a free hotel room that night at a friends house that lives in O'Fallon.  But they finally give up and after the suggestion from my friend, Jonathan, we pull into the Super 8 motel to get their 3 queen room for 6 Crockett's (Gary, Teresa, Justin, Melissa, Hunter and Allie).  Now this hotel room wasn't exactly "terrible" but the room was 130 degrees when they got situated and the odor was one of not so pleasing to the nostrils aka: it stinketh!  But Jessica and I take our kiddos 4miles down the road to our "free" hotel for the night, which we thoroughly were gonna enjoy!!!
However, the morale of day 1 was overall really awesome for a Crockett family vacation!!  I mean Laffy Taffy's, Lamberts, and no real whining of "are we there yets". So I'd give day one a 5star rating.