Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and so we packed our stuff and a bunch more into the Escape for the trip back home. Luckily, we didn’t break the rear axle with the load we were hauling back to North Carolina.
The trip back home certainly wasn’t boring in the slightest. Most of the east coast was heading north on I-95 with us and unlike the run to Florida, this time we hit nasty traffic snarls as the rule rather than the exception. There were more than a few accidents to explain some of the snarls (two in Florida, three in Georgia, five in South Carolina including a spectacular flipping of a RV just south of Florence, and a couple in North Carolina). The RV at least timed it’s flip well as there was a flatbed truck with a wench right behind them that was already tipping the RV back onto it’s wheels and the traffic wasn’t all that backed up southbound. But hoo boy, was it packed going north! We actually had to leave the interstate and go through Florence because it was so backed up.
Nicholas again proved he is the superior traveler and we ended up stopping at three McDonald’s restaurants along the way. The last one was right before the turn onto the home stretch of I-40 when it was patently clear that he wanted WARM FORMULA, DARN IT! Ah… I almost got to make the turn. Unfortunately, his milk was delayed by all of the occupants of a tour bus who had turned into this McDonald’s in Benson just before we did. Ugh. It’s not fun trying desperately to get some hot water when there is a sea of humanity round you. But eventually, the hot water was procured and he was satisfied and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home.
This won’t come as much of a surprise to the readers, but Mommy was definitely smarter than Daddy. She had taken the Monday off but Daddy got to drive to Chapel Hill the next day after driving all of the way from Florida. At least the drive in the morning was nothing compared to the day before but I’m pretty sure I did that run on autopilot, particularly after the Durham Freeway exit. I know I certainly went through the day on autopilot and was falling asleep on the ride home.
Important lessons for future trips: avoid traveling on the busiest days and go ahead and burn the sick day for the day after getting home! It’s a lot better than trying to fight your way through the day utterly zonked…