Though we had made our decision by noon, we still had to go by a store to get basic supplies for the drive back, as well as the bank to get the cashier’s check. Once all of that was done, it was time to roll.
The auto mart offered to remove all the excess seats for us to save us having to dispose of them. We kept the front four for us girls to ride back in, and the back four for no reason at all.
First thing we did was clean. The seats were covered in desert dust. Since some of the windows were partially open there was sand everywhere.
It took some time and a roll of paper towels, but we got the seats clean enough to sit on for the ride home. The girls each got their own seat, so they set up their areas and snuggled in…
And of course, we couldn’t start off our trip without the song…
We hit the road about 3:30 pm from Calexico, California, and drove to Tucson, Arizona for our overnight. Along the way, we stopped to take our state sign pictures for both California and Arizona.
Friday was a long day of driving, from Tucson, Arizona, to Ft. Stockton, Texas. Along the way, the girls still had to keep up with their schoolwork. We stopped to see the World’s Largest Chili Pepper, a must see of course, we got some treats and visited the original border of Texas and Mexico.
We made it to Ft Stockton by 9 pm. Who knew driving 12 hours a day in a school bus could be so exhausting!
After a slow start on Saturday, we hit the road once more. Entertainment was provided by some amazing friends of ours that took the time to make the girls folders with word searches and activities. And we had an hourly Bus-Trivia to entertain us with.
We luckily missed the worst of the bad weather that came through the Friendswood area on Saturday. After dropping Cindy off at the airport to pick up the car and then the dog, we arrived home around 8pm. We were exhausted but ecstatic at the same time!
1500 miles, 2 1/2 days….let the conversion begin…..