Learning why time management is essential for a road trip!

"With all the additional stops I made, we were never in the car for all that long. That actually became a serious problem..."

*CLICK THE PHOTO TO WATCH THIS VIDEO NOW*

Knowing we were leaving Jason, the dogs, our home, and everything familiar for almost 2 months was really hard! We knew it would be, but you are never really prepared for goodbyes until you actually have to say them. I cried most of the night before, and the water works didn’t stop the next morning either. Don’t get me wrong I was excited for our trip, but I was so sad to leave Jason behind, especially since he is the one that usually inspires all the crazy ideas on our YouTube channel, and this was our craziest! Plus, it was terrifying to actually do this all on my own with post-concussion syndrome. I honestly was not sure how I would do at driving for even more than just a few hours, and our first day consisted of a 7.5 hour long drive, from Cincinnati all the way to Columbia Missouri, with a scheduled stop in St. Louis. Granted, with all the additional stops I made, we were never in the car for all that long. That actually became a serious problem…

I was so excited to see new places and new sites, that I wanted to stop at them all, regardless of what they were. Because you just never know if you will ever have the chance again, right? Realistically though, it is not possible to see everything. There are just not enough hours, or even minutes in a day to do so. This was a really hard, and much needed lesson for me to learn, but we almost paid a HUGE price for it! Because of all the roadside attraction distractions, I neglected to think about our main plan for the day, which was to visit the Arch in St. Louis, and take a tram ride to the top. Pre-covid this wouldn’t have mattered much, but because of social distancing purposes you are required to pre-purchase tickets that come with a specific timestamp. A timestamp that only gives you a 15 minute window. If you miss it, you are sure out of luck. (I think you know where I am going with this, but stay with me).

Our ticket was for 3-3:15pm. Keep in mind that there is also a time change from Ohio to Missouri as well. We would LOSE one hour. It is about a 5 hour and 30 minute drive to the Gateway Arch. Our Goal was to leave at 7am, and our deadline was 8am. We pulled out of our driveway at exactly 8am. That gives us PLENTY OF TIME, right? I mean, if you do the math, we should be in Missouri by 2pm with the time change. Well…that’s not exactly what happened.

I didn’t account for the extra time that each stop we made would actually add on to our drive, AND WE MADE MANY! There were at least 3 bathroom breaks, one of which gave us a free pin and post card for stopping in Illinois. That led to a fabulous idea of collecting pins from every state, and also sending a postcard to Jason & my grandparents and mailing them while in that state. This was a great idea, and it was one of our favorite things we did, but we didn’t think about the time it would take to write them & find a post office to mail them. So, add on a stop for a post office break (about 20 minutes off the route…we were in a small town). So, subtract about 30 minutes total from our original time. Now we would arrive by 2:30. Still that’s plenty of time, right? If that’s all we did, and without any issues along the way I suppose it would have been enough time.

Then we notice a small replica of the Gateway Arch in Illinois. I thought it would be totally funny to get out, take a video, act like we made it to the real one and send it to my parents, since they were way behind us, NOT! They were actually at the REAL Gateway Arch, while I was messing around in front of a fake one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae58mqu0D40

Not to change the subject, but did you know there is a historic stop in Illinois called the Vandalia State House, and that has a connection with Abraham Lincoln? NEITHER DID I! We had to stop for a photo, I mean that’s a piece of history! While we were taking a photo, we got a call from my parents asking where we were, because they were waiting for us outside the Gateway Arch. They were at the arch, and we hadn’t even crossed the border into Missouri yet!

"OMG, WE LOSE AN HOUR! IT WILL BE 2:37!"

I thought to myself, “It’s okay, don’t panic, I mean you are only an hour and 7 minutes away, and it’s only 12:30pm. You’ll make it there by 1:37. So what’s the rush?” Then the time change was mentioned. And I thought, “Do we gain an hour, or lose an hour? OMG, WE LOSE AN HOUR! IT WILL BE 2:37!” Still in my head I am trying not to panic, and I’m trying not to let Jayla see that I am worried we won’t make it. I convince her that there is plenty of time to get there, park, walk, and turn in our ticket. Sure it is.

Did I mention the significance of the day this trip actually started on? I don’t think I did. So, I have had 3 miscarriages, and as a family we have a tradition, that we celebrate each baby (Sammy, Jackson, & Paisley Grace) on their due date by either releasing a balloon or visiting somewhere new that we would want to take them if they were here with us. We also added onto that and decided it would be cute to take their stuffed animals and have them in a family photo at the place we go, kind of like a “Flat Stanley” idea. Then it’s like we created a new memory with them in a way, and we have a photo to remember it. Anyways, every time it is Jackson’s due date, nothing goes right, and I mean NOTHING!

Example: One year we planned to spend the day at the Columbus Zoo. It’s about a 2 hour drive for us, so we stopped to get gas. Jason put his card in to pay, and it was stuck trying to process it. So, we couldn’t get gas, and we couldn’t really leave either because it wouldn’t let him cancel the transaction. That was frustrating, but we decided we would just get food at the Popeyes next door while we wait for them to fix the issue at the gas station. We placed our order. They were out of what we wanted. We switched our order, and we waited. And waited. And waited, all while other people were being served. Finally, after about 45 minutes we got our food, but still no gas. So, we ate and waited, until finally we were able to fill up our car. By this point it was like 12pm, which meant we would make it by 2pm, and the zoo closed at 5. Plenty of time, right? WRONG! We sat in parking lot traffic all the way there. We did not arrive at the zoo until 4pm! Still there was an hour left of the zoo being open, and we drove all that way, so we still went in. My feet were really bothering me, and often I can’t walk an entire park without a wheelchair (long story–many foot/leg injuries & surgeries), but I opted to not get one since it was only an hour. Then the fun really began! We walked all the way back to their Savannah section only to find it was closed. Jason ended up stuck in their bathroom because the chicken upset his stomach. And I ended up on a bench not able to walk any further. It was such a fun day! Every one of Jackson’s due dates have been like this, and our road trip was planned to start on his due date. Needless to say, I was more than a little worried, but I hoped this one would be different. It wasn’t!

Back to our story…

We quickly hopped back into the car, and headed straight for St. Louis, no more stops. Once we got into Missouri, and we could see the arch in the distance, we thought we were golden. NOT! We hit parking lot traffic! All I could do was sit there and watch time tick away faster and faster. Luckily the traffic only lasted for about 15 minutes, but that put our arrival time at 2:52, leaving us only 8 minutes to find parking and walk to the arch. Then a torrential downpour commences, and I can barely see street signs or hear the GPS over the noise of the rain. Now I am panicking! I decide to skip trying to find where my parents told me to park, and I pick a random parking garage that looks like it’s a short walk to the arch. We get out, get our camera gear, frantically look for our umbrellas, and we run out of the garage only to find completely clear blue skies. Craziness! We start running towards the arch with all our stuff, and we realize something, we forgot our masks! It said on the Gateway Arch’s website that you will not be allowed in without them, and we left them in our car! We run back to the parking garage, and then it hits us, “Where did we park? Heck, what level did we even park on?” We tried every floor, but the floor we parked on, looking for our car. By now it was 3:05, and we were just making our way back to the arch. Three streets away, one large line with photos being taken, security that looked like what you would see at an airport, and a maze of halls in a much larger museum than I remembered…. MIRACULOUSLY WE MADE IT TO THE TRAM, AND THEY THANKFULLY LET US ON!

We rushed all that way, and fought all those obstacles, only for me to remember that I hate heights, I hate confined spaces, and I didn’t like the Gateway Arch the first time I did this years ago! It was a hysterical ride up & down, and one you shouldn’t miss seeing!

I wish I could tell you that I learned my lesson from this experience, and that this was the only day of time management issues, but sadly it wasn't. I did learn that less really is more though. It is okay to choose one or two things to see, and really have the time to stop to enjoy them. Trying to see it all is stressful, and not humanly possible.

After such a stressful, crazy, and exciting day, I will say I was ready to curl up in bed in our nice hotel room. That didn't happen either! You will have to come back for the next blog post to learn why. Also, be sure to watch this whole first day on our YouTube channel and make sure to SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss our next vlog where we DO take the tram ride up and tour the arch (or just click the photo at the top to watch right now).