A quick introduction for those just joining us…

Sharing our Road Trip, Day by Day

From the day we arrived here and settling down, I’ve dreamed about sharing the daily logs from our road trip (which I shared only on my private Facebook page), photos and videos, as well as some funny adventure stories and practical tips/lessons for anyone planning to travel long distances in a very full car with very busy babies and/or toddlers. I wrote these daily updates as a way to keep our family in the loop and let them know, every night, that we had arrived at our next destination point safe and sound. Little did I know that we would get such a following of friends and relatives who were interested in following our trip! I am so grateful that God gave me the perseverance to keep them up because they are such treasures to our family now, and an online journal we can always look back on.

Note: I have put the updates I wrote last year in italics so you easily differentiate what I wrote last year and what I’m adding today.

I hope you join us for the next 15 days as we relive this forever epic #peitocaliforniaroadtrip! Below are the links in case you missed them.

Day 1 Summerside,PE to Bangor, ME
Day 2 Bangor, ME to Rochelle Park, NJ
Day 3 Rochelle Park, NJ to Pittsburgh, PA
Day 4 Pittsburgh,PA to Louisville, KY
Day 5 Louisville, KY rest day
Day 6 Louisville, KY to Michigan City, IN
Day 7 Michigan City, IN rest day
Day 8 Michigan City, IN to Davenport, IW
Day 9 Davenport, IW to Bellevue, NE
Day 10 Bellevue, NE to Fort Morgan, CO
Day 11 Fort Morgan, CO to Grand Junction, CO

Day 12: July 16, 2016

Grand Junction, CO to Hurricane, UT

Hello from Hurricane, Utah. It’s the name of the town, not the weather! Funny, we sent Brendon’s mom a text earlier when we arrived saying the same thing and she was concerned that we were caught in bad weather. Hee hee. We totally should have clarified that 😉 The weather was quite warm and sunny, about 40 degrees celsius. Sorry guys, I’m still thinking and relating to celsius. After 5 years, it’s stuck, at least for now. We pretty much just drove today and are just about a hour away from the Nevada state border. It was scenic drive with lots of cliffs and plateaus and desert.

Hail Mary…Hail Mary…

Here’s the scary/funny in hindsight/lesson for the future story for today. We were driving along the I-70 which the speed limit is 80mph in Utah. Crazy awesome! We thought 75mph east of Omaha on the I-80 was sweet. Anyways we’re cruising along and the gas prices are starting to climb but Brendon thinks we can get a better deal so we keep driving and driving and driving and no gas station sign in sight. Meanwhile our gas gauge just keep getting lower and lower. By the time our gas range reads 80km, we’re shifting to N to conserve gas whenever we’re going downhill and we shut off the air. The kids are cranky and crying. Audrey can’t seem to get be pacified. I’m fanning them as it’s 11:30am and 37 degrees outside, and we have no bars on our cellphones. Quiet panic ensues inside of me as I’m trying to find the nearest gas station with the gps on my phone. The next big city is Salina but it’s still 40 minutes away and there’s no way we’re going to make it. I finally find there’s a gas station up on another highway in this tiny town which is 12 miles away. We take the turn and we’re holding our breath hoping over each next hill is the gas station. Nope. That went on for a bit until our gas range reads 0km and we’re still not at the gas station. We’re desperately praying Hail Mary’s. Just another turn and there is it. We rolled on in and sighed in relief. Never again and thank you Mary!

We’ll be visiting Zion Canyon tomorrow. Yay! I hear it’s absolutely beautiful and I’m excited to take some time without rushing to enjoy it. I hope the kids will be ok. They are so over this trip. Audrey cries every time we put her in her carseat. She’s been teething horribly too with some awful poops/blowouts. Yay, fun. Dominic has been just pushing boundaries and testing limits. I know he’s just looking for some stability and will so appreciate a more regular schedule once we’re settled in our new home. We can not wait. As much as we are finding joys in this trip it would be a lie to say it’s not draining and stressful. We’re happy to be finishing it a day sooner than we planned and to be seeing my family on Monday!

Keep praying for us to persevere joyfully until the end (we’re so close!) and that our babies do well. They are the ones suffering the most but are such champs! Blessings! #peitocaliforniaroadtrip #day12_grandjunctiontohurricane

Practical Tips & Funny Stories of the Day

1. This was quite the lesson to learn: when traveling, keep the wagon topped up. The gas light had been on and the range had read as “0” for at least 20 miles. We’d pulled off the main drag in search of any old gas station. It was at least 100F outside, the AC was off and the windows were down to keep us as “cool” as best possible. Every hill we climbed might have been the last, but up we went, and for the way down I would flip into neutral to coast to save the last shred of gas. Running on 100% Holy Spirit, we pulled into a sleepy desert town and fueled up at “Bob’s.” It worked out… this time. -Brendon