Christmas in Colorado: Traveling

We left for Colorado on Friday as soon as Dan was out of work.  We decided to drive through the night like we have in years past - that way Evelyn sleeps through the majority of the 18 hour trip.  She stayed awake (as planned) from Kingsville to San Antonio, where we planned to stop for dinner.  I was thrilled to eat at Panera Bread...oh how I miss Panera Bread.  We let Evelyn run around a little bit and got her in her pajamas so she could fall asleep whenever she wanted in the car.

When I came out, I found Dan giving Evelyn swing rides - she loved it!

She watched Toy Story 3 (a favorite) from San Antonio to Junction so that Dan could sleep while I drove some more.  In Junction, we stopped to get gas and switched drivers.  Dan took the leg from Junction up to Amarillo (the worst part of the drive, in my opinion - so I was happy to sleep).  Being pregnant, I was uncomfortable already trying to sleep in the car - and the shoulder strap was driving me c.r.a.z.y., so I decided to wrap it around the back of the seat and fasten it to keep the little seat belt chime from going off continuously.  It worked quite well, and I got some good sleep.  Except that when we stopped in Amarillo, the auto seat belt retractor kicked in and cinched up the belt when I raised the seat and we couldn't get it back around.

Oops.

In Amarillo (at 3:30am, mind you), we tried to fix it by trying to get the headrest out.  After trying to force it up, asking the gas station attendant for tools, and buying some WD-40, we realized it wasn't coming out (we later found out that they don't remove).  Dan had the idea to do the crazy 18-step sequence that Ford outlines in the owner's manual to keep the seat belt chime from going off.  We tried it once to no avail - but tried a second time and got it to work (thank the Lord!).  So we set off for the next 8 hours of our trip with no passenger seat belt.  Dan was particularly pleased with my handiwork because it was his turn to sleep, and because of the seat belt he couldn't lay the seat back. 

Again, oops.  But isn't he cute?

I had the leg from Amarillo to Trinidad - basically as we cut west in the Texas panhandle through the northeast corner of New Mexico and into Colorado.  I always love this part of the drive because it's usually turning morning and beautiful because the mountains are in the distance (and getting ever closer!). 

I had to snap this (yes, while driving...I'm bad, I know) because it was so gorgeous.

We stopped at a Subway in Trinidad to have breakfast.  Evelyn had woken up just before we crossed the Colorado state line (smart girl!) and was bright-eyed ready to face the day.  The downfall of driving through the night is that you are still exhausted, but she is pretty much rested as usual!

We made the rest of the trip after breakfast and got into Colorado Springs around 10:30am Colorado time.  It was even flurrying a little as we got into town - I was ecstatic!  (It didn't last, sadly...but for a Colorado girl who hasn't seen snow in 2 years - it was a good start!)  We got showers in and got everything settled so that at naptime we could all get some sleep in (Dan's brother had to work the day we got in, so we could get some sleep without being rude house guests!).  Evelyn did so fantastically on this trip - we couldn't have asked for better.  She had one melt down in San Antonio about 5 minutes from the restaurant - mostly because she was hungry and hot.  But other than that she was happy as can be!