LWOW Outtakes: The good, the bad, and the ugly

HEY!  It's been a while.  For some reason, when I got back to my real life and didn't have 36 hours of sitting in the car with nothing else to do, my blog was put on the back burner and the posting just stopped. 

My deepest apologies...

Anyhow, I wanted to do a wrap up post or seven to keep the LWOW spirit alive, so here goes.

Today's post is going to showcase a few pictures and experiences we had that will demonstrate the lesser qualities of an 18 day 6,000 mile road trip.  I know, I know what you're thinking:  what could she be talking about?  What could possibly have gone wrong on an 18 day 6,000 mile road trip?  You mean something that was less than ideal happened? 

Um, yeah.

SO....here goes:



Tent sleeping at its finest.  Sometimes you wake up and realize something (someone?) has come between you and your spouse. 

This indecipherable picture is actually an interior shot of our van, taken from the front seat.  This is what it looked like ALL THE TIME.  Even when it was cleaned up, it still looked like this. (In fact, this WAS cleaned up). We had too much stuff and too little space.  I honestly think the worst part of the trip (aside from the long driving stretches) was unpacking our van so many times.  We had 8 different sleeping locations and each time, we had to unpack everything (except the tent and sleeping bags at 2 of the places) every time. 



Yeah, the visor is broken. And it dangles. 

FILTHY.  all the time. 

Car sleep is pretty much the worst sleep you can imagine.  This was taken somewhere in Kansas in the middle of night #1.  Will woke up around 4:45 that morning and was up for good that day.  WHEW.  I still have a little PTSD from that.

 

A long and lonely stretch of road where I had a mild panic attack.  Or hyperventilated.  Or something.  This was somewhere between Yosemite and Las Vegas and we would travel 90-100 miles before we'd pass another car or house or sign of life.

So, sometimes, when you're busy looking up directions or making sandwiches in the front seat, your youngest child might get hold of a bottle of sunscreen and liberally apply 50SPF to his entire body.  He was mighty slippery that day.

I may or may not have heard this elk say "MINE" when we tried to get into our tent one night.  He ate/slept/played near our humble abode and scared the heck out of our kids...so much so that they refused to get out of our van until it was too dark to see him anymore and I convinced them that he had left.....  
"what's that rustling sound outside, mom?" 
"Oh nothing. go to sleep."

Will was one weary dude. This was while we were waiting on the subway in Hollywood.  His 4:45 am wakeup a week prior (along with his multiple hikes in the Grand Canyon, swim in the Colorado River, and 9 hours of swimming on the 4th of  July) finally caught up with him.  Grumpy McGrumperson. 

No campfires were allowed at most of the places we camped.  And I thought that was the whole point of camping!  S'mores via Charcoal grill are just about as bad as you imagine they would be.

I know you think camping on the beach at the Pacific Ocean sounds amazing, but what you aren't picturing is that all that sand on said beach?  It will find its way into your tent and sleeping bag.  Mark my words.  That was one exfoliating night of sleep, let me tell you.  This little foot shower helped, but not much.

Shirtless in San Francisco.  (and all across America, actually.  I could do a whole post on Will's shirtlessness.)

These elephant seals are not good or bad--just ugly.

San Francisco traffic on our way to catch the ferry for Alcatraz. We almost missed the boat.

Sometimes, people will refuse to scale the side of a mountain.  Not naming any names, but you take a guess....  These were taken in Vail and there was significant weeping and gnashing of teeth on the way to the top.

We gave Roadside Dining a whole new meaning.  We literally did a lot of Roadside Dining.  If that red cooler could talk.....  This was somewhere outside of Las Vegas and we were on our way home and desperately trying to use up the food we had and avoid spending much more money.  By this point, we were all about to die because we were at risk of choking on flat meat and smashed sandwich bread we'd bought in California 5 days prior.



I'll wrap this post up by saying that in spite of all these good, bad, and ugly experiences, it's no small wonder that I didn't have to heed this message on the Golden Gate Bridge. 
CRISIS COUNSELING
THERE IS HOPE
MAKE THE CALL
The consequences of jumping off this bridge are fatal and tragic.