We’re home! We survived! And now to give credit to those things that saw us through…
10 – FORMULA – I can’t tell you how awesome it is to make a bottle for a baby and reach over the seat to stick it in his mouth while driving. I’m not against breast feeding, wish it would have worked out with this little guy, but the bottle can’t be beat for road trips.
9 – IKEA POTTY TRAINING POTTY – The little ditty costs $4 and is a life saver for little girls who “GOTTA GO!” in the middle of no where. Or in case the gast station toilets are questionable. Let’s face it. I wouldn’t sit on some of those toilets much less make my little darlings sit on them. Ugh. This tiny potty fits nicely under their feet and can be used then wiped out with a baby wipe and put back quickly and easily. Do I sound like an infomercial yet?
8 – HOME MADE CD’s – I made a couple of cd’s with our favorite music on it for the road. Some educational, some just fun, some quiet for bedtimes and one just for Sundays to ease the guilt of not going to church. Good times!
7 – iPHONES – Holy Shmoly. If I wasn’t addicted to my phone already I am completely and utterly hooked now. I can’t tell you how many ways my iPhone, specifically made this trip so much easier. And I don’t even have the latest and greatest. From chatting with my friends to updating my blog to mapping out our road to finding hotels.. this phone did it all. I think I’m going to name it Data. As in Data from Star Trek next generation. My phone is my best robotic friend.
6 -CLEAN SHEETS – There is nothing more comforting than ending a long day on the road or adventuring in new towns than curling up in clean sheets. I am especially fond of the smell of bleach on crunchy ones. Heaven 
5 – KAYAK APP – Kayak.com has an app that has a little button that says “Find me a hotel for the night’. You click that little button and BAM! you get a list of hotels complete with prices, availability, amenities and how far away they are. I LOVE THIS APP! I love it more than chocolate. Especially on a week night in the middle of no where Iowa. How far are we from bed kids? Let me ask Grandma Kayak. Priceless.. and it was FREE!
4 -DVD PLAYER – I don’t think I need to explain this one. But I will add that I ordered educational videos about a couple of our stops ahead of time so I could force the kids to learn something about where we were going before we got there. It only backfired once, at the Hoover dam, where my son kept informing the tour guide that the Japanese tried to bomb the dam in 1940-whatever. Yah, he said it at least fifty times on the tour and usually followed it up with the question: What would we do if terrorists bombed the dam right now? The old timers were pretty antsy to get rid of us.
3 – GOOGLE MAPS – Did you know that when you are stuck in LA traffic you can pull up the Google maps app and see EXACTLY where the flow of traffic is stuck and where it is moving? It’s so accurate it’s actually creepy. Some people are fighting Google and their insatiable hunger for our stats. I say GIVE IN, GIVE UP & ENJOY! Google is brilliant. They can have all my information if they show me the best way out of down town LA at 5pm and help me find the dirt road to my best buddy’s house in the middle of nowhere Indiana. I estimate that by using the Google maps app I saved approximately 49.7 hours worth of time on my trip. No lie.
2 - CAR SEATS! CAR SEATS! CAR SEATS! This has to be the most ingenious invention modern man has come up with. And to make them a LAW! Even more ingenious. “It’s not me that says you have to be tied down in one place unable to touch your siblings for the next 6,000 miles.. it’s Uncle Sam. Write your senator a letter while we cross Oklahoma kids.” How did past generations go anywhere without their kids strapped into their seats? No wonder they all died so young. Car wrecks and craziness got ‘em all I bet!
1 - GOOD FRIENDS AND FAMILY – Ahh.. now for the squishy goodness of it all… this trip would have been pointless and completely void without all the sweet, sweet friends and family I was able to see along the way. I come from a MONSTROUS Mormon family and I have LOADS of fantastic friends, both new and old, that bless my life. What a great time to be able to see them all and have them help me throw my kids in bed after a long day of adventuring ! This is my huge, public THANK YOU! to everyone who fed us, sheltered us, laughed and cried with us. You’re the best! Now it’s your turn to come see me!
It was great updating from the road but back to my desk I go.. lots of great posts coming your way on writing in the coming weeks. Possibly a few on cookies. I’ve been baking cookies nonstop since we got home. Anyone who wants to send me a recipe for to die for cookies gets a gold star! 
Happy Trails Summer Road Warriors!
