Canada

It is Monday morning. Saturday night we stopped at 100 mile house around midnight where me and the girls cleared some floor space in the van to sleep, and Ethan grabbed a sleeping bag and slept on the ground beside our vehicle. Around 5 in the morning, while it was turning light outside, we strapped the girls into the carseats, used the bathrooms that were available, and then began driving once more. Two hours up the road, we stopped at a Denny’s and had breakfast. I was the main force behind that decision, I suppose. Knowing peanut butter sandwiches would be the main fare for the rest of the day, I had hoped to get at least one full size meal before starting the day.

We must have looked like a straggly crew, shuffling in carrying our two bare-footed daughters. They were still wearing the clothes from the previous night, Maya in black sweats and a long sleeved pink snowflake speckled top. Jasmine was still wearing her sun dress from the day before, and she had only one ponytail, since the other side had fallen out during the night. . . I walked in with Maya on my hip and a diaper in hand. The waitress seated us in a booth at the far side of the restaurant. I suppose she saw me looking for a bathroom, because as she was seating us, she informed me where they were located. I took each of the girls to the bathroom and straightened them up a bit before we left. Enough about breakfast...

After Ethan paid, we loaded up and got back on the road. Less than 10 minutes later, Maya was crying in the back. Ethan checked his rearview as I craned around to see that Maya had just thrown up! We pulled over immediately, and I set Maya outside to remove her clothing. Then I allowed her to sit in the front with Ethan while I cleaned up her carseat. She threw up again later in the morning, as well, the second time occurring at a gas station after Ethan filled up. I had given each of the girls some apple juice and half a granola bar each. Afterwards, we tried to give Maya some bread to keep her tummy calm until she could handle something chunkier. : )Even towards the end of the day, Jasmine remembered the incidents with an emphatic declaration of “Maya was sick this morning.”

We stopped around 10pm at Fort Nelson. Ethan thinks we covered around 800 miles yesterday. We had hoped to wait until mid trip to stay in a hotel, but after Ethan’s 4 hours of sleep the previous day, and Maya throwing up on herself twice, we decided a full nights rest in a bed might do better to give us a good start towards the next day’s drive. So here we are, at a Motel 8 in British Columbia. Continental breakfast, cartoons, and even a water slide to kick off the day. Jasmine loves the water! So after Ethan finishes his breakfast, he will take Jasmine to play in the pool for a short bit before we take off again.

Theoretically, we knew we would be trying to spend at least 10 hours on the road each day. However, the day can sometimes turn out to be much longer when you figure in bathroom breaks, stretch breaks, stopping for gas, stopping to clean up after an upset tummy - and of course the occasional stop to let the girls get out and run around at a park somewhere. Little bodies were not made to sit all day! I am praying for extra grace these days, especially since road travel often accompanies a near-constant feeling of nausea. Arg! I will be glad when we get to Valdez!