limbdifferent: Road Trip

So we took a little road trip this past weekend. It was the finale trip in the car before we graduate to the wheel chair minivan. Even though it wasn’t an all-day road trip, I was still a little apprehensive for a couple reasons. First, just a few years ago Luk Chaai screamed for a significant portion of this same trip. Second, Ying’s activities in the car are pretty limited, so I wasn’t sure how she’d do during a longer drive.

Happily, I can report we had a pretty great trip. There were requests for snacks even before we left the neighborhood and there was crying as we re-entered the neighborhood days later, but all-in-all, it was a really good trip. That's really saying something too, given that we ended up with two flat tires. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

The day before we left, I had Ying buckled into her car seat and was in the driveway still trying to figure out how to rig up something for her to use as an easel of sorts for her feet. I was striking out with everything I tried, but luckily my neighbor saw me and came over. She suggested a cutting board and had one that was just the right size.

I covered it with craft paper and painter’s tape because no one wants foot, even cute foot, on their cutting board. My wrapping job was a little wonky, but it did the trick. The board slipped a few times, so we stuck a clipboard behind it to sort of wedge it down.

The real life saver though wasn’t the loaner cutting board. It was the Car Bucks. I found them here along with the travel bingo. Our Car Bucks could be cashed in for a treat or a toy. My husband had the genius idea that a nap earned you two bonus bucks and given that we traveled during Ying’s naptime, she was a big winner. Thankfully, we were able to keep her pretty content in the back seat with her Camelbak and baggie snacks.

We also had a few books on CD and the Cinderella soundtrack. All of these got played on fade because the back seat wanted to hear them many more times than the front seat did.

Traveling is going to change a bit for us from here-on out. I thought about that a few times during this trip. Not only will we need the mini van, but we’ll need wheelchair accessible hotel rooms, restaurant seating, etc… It’s not a big deal, but it will be an adjustment for us. Hopefully the learning curve isn’t too steep because as it was, we ran low on bendy straws on this trip.

But even if the wheel chair maneuvering is a bit of a hassle at first, memories will still be made. Heck, that may even be the memory. I know two kids who won’t soon forget the Father’s Day that involved a late night and one awesome tow truck.