Day Eight The Last Day

The last day had finally arrived and the kids and us were up early as usual. I did not sleep too well the last night and that was not good as we had a 26 hour drive ahead of us.

We decided that since we were not able to go swimming the night before that we would hit the pool one more time before we left. It was the kids favour activity after all.

Man the pool was cold but I jumped in anyway, both kids and Miranda took their time getting in but evidentially did. Went spent about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes in the pool, enjoying the cool morning (which we knew would not last long, as it is super hot by 9 am usually). One thing about Florida, I do not envy their summers, would be way too hot to do anything.

After some frolicking in the pool, we got out had showers and had some breakfast. The rest of time at the house was spent cleaning up after the kids and attempting to find all the things that Lex and Julia hid in the house.

Kath, Ian, and Julia left around 9:15 and we were out of the house by 9:40, with one more longing look at the house we started the long drive home.

Put home in the GPS and the arrival time was 6:28 am, that will change as we will have a number of stops along the way. Was hoping would be 10 or 11 when we got home, was wrong about that.

Ran into our first traffic delay about 15 mins into the drive, our first accident and not the last on the way home but really not that many.

Miranda took the first leg of the trip, we drove all the way to Daytona Beach where we stopped for a coffee and washroom break. Then back in the van.

A few things that we have learned during our trip to Florida

They must not be coffee drinkers down here, every time we want to find a place to get a coffee it takes a long time.
They do not recycle in Kissimmee and very little in Orlando. Even Disney did not have a recycle bin by each garbage, was more like by every one out of 8.
The amount of Lawyer advertising is annoying and makes you feel sick.
Florida fruit is hard to find, even Walmart did not have Florida oranges (find out later from friends that Florida oranges are only good for juice and not very good to eat, also they are generally not very orange)
Our Vans trip odometer resets every 1600 km, did this three times. We ended up with about 4900 kms for the trip.
They have a bigger bug problem then we do, explains why everyone has there pool screened in.
We do not need a radio in the van, Matthew will sing for us, everything from Kayne West, the Wiggles, to the Spice Girls. A good selection and just out of the blue and any where. He probably sang about 4 hours each way.
Our kids can sleep any where, from hours in the van, in a stroller (at Disney World), to easily adjusting to new beds at the house.
Florida does not have helmet laws for motorcyclists, they seem to be behind us on a number of things.
Our kids are fantastic in the van, the 26 hours down and back was a breeze, very little fighting. On the way down we put on the DVD play only after we hit Florida and maybe for about 2 hours. Then on the way home we did not use it once, we have trained them well.
Even just across the boarder Canadians and United Statians (not americans, everyone from North America, Central America, to South America are americans) we are very different people.
They still use Styrofoam for cups, this is crazy to me as they are a big environmental problem. Like I said behind the times.
The McD's large is huge, way too big. When I see one the documentary Super Size me comes to mind.

Back to the drive, Miranda continued to drive all the way through Florida and into Georgia. Kids are now sleeping and playing on and off, was a good start to our drive. The weather was not bad, but would rain and then stop, for most of the way home it looked like it would rain any minute.

Stopped on I95 in Georgia at a McDonald's to take a break get some ice cream and some gas. The kids played at the McDonalds play area while we rested for a few minutes.

Then it was back on the road, Miranda decided to try and nap. We were only on the road for about 20 mins when all of a sudden I saw something fly off a boat about two cars in front of us. It was too late, we hit it on the passenger side scaring the crap out of Miranda as she was half a sleep. I still have no idea what it was but it look a little like a roof or cover, it was metal and about 5 feet long and curved ends. We pulled over on the highway and Miranda checked out the van, no damage. That was a close one as that would added hours onto our trip and not sure if we could have made it home in one shot.

From there it was smooth sailing, we ate the lunch that Miranda had packed and drove all the way until we reached Rock Hill South Carolina. It was a really nice place, new with lots of stores and restaurants, we stopped at the Bob Evans and had some good food, Miranda got into a long conversation with the greeter about Health care. I stayed out of that one.

By this time it was getting late, so we decide to brush the kids teeth and get them into their PJs and then back into the van for the next leg. Before leaving Rock Hill we stopped to get gas, as Miranda was inside paying for the gas and getting some munchies she watched as this guy stuffed a few items into his pants and shirt. When she pointed him out to me he did not look like the type and was even in a nice looking truck. Also saw a kid at the gas station wearing a Toronto Blue Jays hat.

Miranda took over from here and I tried to get some sleep. Very unsuccessfully, but at least I tried :)

We drove until just across the Virgina boarder at the rest stop, was now 10:05. Lex ask Miranda if they could stay up all night, Miranda said that they could. Lex was sleeping less than 30 mins later. Matthew continued to play Miranda's DS for a bit.

Stopped in the mountains at a service stop to get some gas and coffee for me, about 11:30. The sign said that there was a rest stop but when I went in side it was closed, had to settle for the rest stop coffee. Was good enough as I needed something. Matthew finally fell asleep.

I continued driving until about 1:42 were we stopped again, still in Virgina, now West Virgina. It seemed like the mountains would not end, and it was hard driving them as not many lights and a lot of up and down and around the corners. The two tunnels through the mountains were really cool though and a nice break from the darkness.

I think it was about 3:30 that we finally stopped again, Miranda and I are exhausted at this point as neither of us were getting much sleep. We were just inside PA at the first Rest stop, the kids woke up and we all hit the washrooms.

From there it was drive until about 7 am when we stopped at Bob Evan's in Erie PA. We were hoping to be back in Canada by now, but too many stops. At this point we are switching driving about every hour to 1 and 1/2 hours.

Was a good breakfast, more gas (for the last time) and then back on the road. From there it was one last stop and a rest stop on the highway and then onto Buffalo to cross back home.

Made it to the board at sometime in the morning, all is a blur now, but we took the time to stop at the Duty Free. I got two cases of beer and a bottle of rye for about $55 the beer a lone would have been $70. Then it was across the board, thank god that this time there was no line and the Canada customs gave us no problems, even when we told her that we purchased more than our limit at Duty Free :)

From there it was a nice ride home, one more accident on highway 6 (only about the third that we saw) where looked like some motorcycles took a spill.

Then finally home at noon.

It was an amazing trip and we would do it again in a second. There is just so much to do in Orlando that we could of spent another few weeks with something new to do every day. The house was great, Susan (the owner) was always quick to reply to any email and it was nice to have a place we could go and relax and not be stuck in a small room with two kids.

Lots of people have asked me if we would go again would we still drive. I still like the drive even though it is a killer, especially with only two drivers, it is just really nice way to get to see new things and people. Flying is nice but this family does handle long drives really well.

A few days home and still not fully recovered, my day at work on monday was a very long day and was falling asleep in the early afternoon.

We will see where we end up going next year.

Thanks for following the blog, this was a good experiment for me and a great way for me to remember all the things that had happened and share them with everyone back home.