Was this worth it?  The question flashed over and over in my head, just like our hazard lights, as we sat there, on the side of the exit ramp in the middle of Indiana.  Up ahead, 2 highway signs with numbers stood, illuminating, every other second, the way to civilization.

With 1x service and only 3 bars, I searched for the closest hotel, just in case.  This was the third time in the past half hour we’d had to pull over.  The bright red ‘Warning, danger Will Robinson, danger!’ sign kept appearing, as something in the radiator refused to work, and the core temp of the engine rose and rose.

Was this worth it?  My husband, out in the dark, with a flashlight app his only light, checking hoses and gaskets, pouring bright green liquid and tightening caps.  Frustration grew as the clock ticked late, and could we just get home and go to bed?  Please, Jesus, just let the van make it home.

The kids are huddled in the back, half-asleep but scared, as something is wrong, and we are alone in the dark, and it’s been such a long day.

*******

“In 2 days I have to go to Lou-ee-ville for training.  One night and one day.  Why don’t you and the kids come with me,” he said.

Of course I jumped on that.  Me, who loves to travel. Kentucky which has been beautiful every time we’ve crossed it.  A chance to explore?  Hours in the car to read?  Yes, please!

I looked up a few museums and attractions. Louisville Slugger.  A history museum.  The Kentucky Derby!  Ohio River.  Fossils.  Glimpses of Americans would now be front and center, ripe for the exploration.  The company would pay for the hotel, and some of the food.

And then. 

Grandma couldn’t watch the littlest kids.  To take them all would require another hotel room.  So we decided to pay a babysitter instead of the hotel chain.  Is this going to be worth it?

The 6 hour trip south was non-eventful.  Check-in.  Drive into the city for dinner.  It’s late and we’re starving, and the restaurant is local and delicious.  I have my first Manhattan, a Kentucky bourbon drink, and realize that is one I don’t ever need to have again.

But we have fun.  Good food, a strong thunderstorm, and good memories.

The kids discover the joy of a complimentary breakfast, not something you get when your vacations consist of tent camping.  We watch the news, my 9 year old fascinated by the scrawling headlines at the bottom of the screen.  He reads them aloud and then we talk about them quickly.  Army suicides.  Taliban killing soldiers.  Protesters.  And then a report from Arizona, debating what kinds of people are able to live our way of life.  Which people are worth being allowed to drive a car or go to school.  Because there are laws, and costs, and are they worth it?  If they aren’t born on this side of the line, are they worth it?

Breakfast is over, and it’s out the door we go, only to discover a flat tire.  Not the souvenir I was hoping for.  2 hours later, the problem solved, by a woman mechanic, 2 kids in car seats in the cab of the truck.

On our way, finally.  The history museum.  Weapons.  Daniel Boone’s Bible.  Ancient Samurai artifacts.  Geronimo’s bow and arrows.  Then the baseball museum.  Bats made in front of our eyes.  I hold Mickey Mantle’s.  My non-athletic son, my history-loving child has no idea who Babe Ruth is.

We drive through poverty, through the southside of Lou-ville, and then suddenly, looming large ahead of small houses, towering over the ‘we buy gold’ store with graffiti art on the side, is the place where fortunes are made and lost, where horses and hats and juleps are king.  The disparity between that intersection was something to see.  So we saw.  Photographed and noted in my journal.

Driving on to see fossils and touch the Ohio River.  An hour later, with too many pictures taken, sweat dripping, and the boys convinced they want to be archaeologists, we settle for pancakes at the blue restaurant, breakfast for dinner before the road home.

6 pm and all’s well.  I drive for 3 hours, the kids watch 2 movies, the sunset, a bathroom break, and a driver change.  And then the red light of doom appears.

………….to be continued tomorrow.