Life is a highway, I want to drive it all night long...

Whether it is Rascall Flatts or Tom Cochrane, only young, hip rock-star types should truly heed the message of this song. Certainly not level-headed thirty-somethings (ouch) with young children. Somehow David got the idea in his head that driving back from Muleshoe at night would be far easier than listening to a cranky one-year-old in the eight-hour daylight drive.
Let me preface all of this by saying that Jonathan is not so much a traveler. He gets fussy on the way to church in Belton. So, imagine an all-day drive with this precious baby boy who only napped in the car for twenty minutes (the rest of this nap was at Koti's). He was not happy. And neither was anyone else in the car.
So, we tossed around the idea of driving back at night, while both boys slept. I quickly dismissed it. But it kept coming up. Todd told us that was the only way he traveled. Gary and Hollye warned us that they got pretty sleepy on previous attempts. We should have listened to the latter advice (sorry, Todd...we still love ya.)
The key element in this entire scenario is the driver. If you know us, you know that David and night time driving do not mix. I have witnessed the man fall asleep at the wheel on more than one occasion. So, who do you think would do the majority of this behind-the-wheel time? Ahhh, yes. Moi.
Leaving Muleshoe around eight was fine. David drove to Sweetwater with no problem. It was after eleven at this point, so I took over and the madness began. From eleven to four (yes, I managed to make a three and a half hour drive into five), I trudged along the lonely road to Killeen.
Did I say lonely? Make that crowded. With deer. Over 40 between Brownwood and Lampasas alone. For some reason, this completely turned me into a crazy grandma driver and I never went over fifty miles per hour after Zephyr! On top of that, I started seeing double. I know, what was I thinking? I sat completely straight up in the seat and clenched the wheel until my hands cramped. I did this all the way until Copperas Cove (which is ten minutes from Killeen). David did tell me to switch with him at several points in this part of the drive, but I couldn't decide what was the lesser of two evils: being a lunatic in the passenger seat trying to make sure we didn't hit a deer and make sure David was awake the whole time or driving like a weirdo myself?
This may work for some, but I just couldn't handle it and am not sure we will attempt this again! After getting the boys in their beds a little after four (to David's credit, this part of the plan worked like a dream....they barely made a peep the whole drive), we crashed.
The next morning (I slept until 11ish!), I felt okay and got a few things done around the house. However, the afternoon hit me like a truck and I was completely worthless. I also had the worst headache that no amount of caffeine or Tylenol could kick. So, I still can't decide if it was worth it or not. I did, however get to sample every single station on the Sirius radio thingy. At one point, David woke up to me listening to the All Martha Stewart channel. Very interesting at 2 a.m.

I wrote this entry before the actual Muleshoe entry so it would appear below it on the page. I know, I'm so weird about certain stuff. On a side note, Life is a Highway is one of Benjamin's favorite songs. Of course it is. It's on the Cars soundtrack.