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A photo of Grayson, Dillon, Rayleigh, and Grandpa swimming in a backyard pool

32 Days in America, Day 6

Stats

  • Miles traveled: 468.1
  • Miles traveled to date: 1707.6
  • States visited today: 3 – South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
  • States visited to date: 9
  • Tanks of gas pumped to date: 5
  • Meltdowns: 7
  • Loads of Laundry: 3

Daily recap

Today was another high mileage day with little fanfare along the way. Today was the first day of school book work for the kids, and Kevin put in a full day of work while I drove. It was also the first day we traded in our sneakers for flip-flops for our travel attire. We arrived at Grammy & Grandpa’s rental home in time to enjoy the sunshine, spot some manatees, and enjoy a yummy dinner–before all promptly falling asleep.

Highlights

  • Swimming in the pool
A photo of Ainsley standing in the corner of the pool
Our little mermaid at home in the water.
  • Night swimming
A photo of Rayleigh, Grayson, Ainsley, and Dillon swimming in a pool at night
After dinner, the kids went night swimming. The pool had purple lights under the water and red lights on the deck. They’ll sleep well tonight!

Planet gazing

A photo of Jupiter and Venus in the night sky above a crescent moon with palm trees in the foreground
Jupiter, Venus, and a crescent moon were bright in the night sky.

Bonus Material

Today was a little light on the photos… so we’ll provide some behind the scenes info today. Hotels.

Our hotel last night was not pre-booked, we drove until everyone was done and I made the reservation about an hour before we landed for the night.

Rayleigh and Dillon shared the big bed (the littles and bigs take turns on the bed/pullout)

A photo of Rayleigh and Dillon asleep in a hotel bed.
A couple of sleepyheads not wanting to wake up at 7am.
  • Ainsley and Grayson share a bed.
A photo of Ainsley and Grayson asleep in a hotel bed with a baby doll and an orange plush fish in bed with them
Ainsley and Grayson slept in as long as they could this morning.
  • Each kid has 2 backpacks in the car–1 has their activities for the car, the other has a stuffie to snuggle in the hotel, a book to read before bed, and their music player to get charged.
A photo of a black, green, blue, and red backpack sitting on a hotel floor
The kids were responsible for bringing their own backpacks with their own belongings into the hotel every night.
  • Each night we are ‘on the road’ has an assigned packing cube number, the cubes are color coded. The 6 cubes for that night (4 kids plus mine and Kevin’s) go into a single bag for the night. One suitcase for all the clothes makes unloading the car at the hotel with tired sleepy kids doable.
A photo of black, green, blue, and red clothes bags lined up on a hotel bench
We pulled out our #4 bags for our last night in a hotel before getting to Grammy and Grandpa’s rental house in Florida.
  • Toiletry kits: our individual kits plus another one that has first aid, and OTC meds go into a 2nd suitcase.
A photo of six multicolored toiletry kits on a hotel sink
We each have our own colorful toiletry kits.

Also in that 2nd bag is a zippered pouch with our charging station.

A photo of several phones, watches, and computers charging on a hotel table
We set up a charging station for our various devices so we were able to start each day with full batteries. The 10-port USB charger came in very handy for this.

The, also color coded, water bottles get refilled at the hotel before we head to the lobby for breakfast and on out the door for the day.

A photo of a white, purple, pink, blue, green, and teal water bottle sitting on a hotel shelf
Our morning ritual involved filling water bottles. Everyone was responsible for taking their own water bottle out to the car each morning.

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Kelsey Ernst

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