California

This is a HUGE state when you drive from the Oregon border to San Diego. We spent another night with Janet . . . it felt like months when we were here last. We had a great time sharing all our stories with her and another great nights sleep. We spent the next morning packing up and went to Chinatown in San Fran for a good part of the day. We shopped, ate, looked around and took pictures. I don't know what on earth I was thinking when I left San Fran at 3:30 in the afternoon heading back to San Diego . . . I was exhausted. Not so much tired exhausted but stupid exhausted . . . I missed turns, let the gas go down to almost empty, and forgot to put the gas cap on. Here I am in moving traffic in LA at 11:00PM when a girl yells out the passenger window of her car alerting me that my gas cap is off and hanging . . . gets better here . . . and she wants to reach out the window and close it for me WHILE WE'RE DRIVING!!!!!! there just aren't enough exclamation marks for that one. As nice of a gesture as it was, we were driving in heavy LA traffic going 40MPH . . . seriously.
Whenever I looked out the window and her driver is getting close to the car and she's hanging out her window reaching toward my car . . . only in LA! I yelled out that I'd rather us both live and look for a new cap tomorrow. although I must admit I did think for just a moment . . . what a great photo that would be on the blog.
We drove 6,000 miles in 20 days and had just a great time. I thought a roadtrip with my teenagers would be a deal breaker, but instead they were so much fun. They had me laughing a few times so hard I had to wipe my eyes. They dealt with pay showers, boats, sleeping in our car, GPS changes, grumpy US border patrol, and my selection of books on tape. Cole spent days converting MPH to KPH and reminding me I was either going too fast or too slow ~ and how many miles it would be to our next stop. Jacquelyn kept my windows so clean and had to scrape bugs off at every gas station. I never once had to ask and everytime I was at a station there she was giving me perfect windows. It all worked really well.
I usually try to reflect on the trip our last miles home but this time I was just trying to get us home alive. I hope to reflect in the weeks to come instead, we do have a certain roadtrip magic that surrounds us ~ I only wish it would last throughout the year and in everything we do.
. . . and who knew potato chips and pizza could put that much weight on so fast?