The Joys Of Modern Travel

I'm so glad I don't live in Pioneer Times, like Laura Ingalls Wilder and have to travel far distances in a wagon. If I were Ma or Pa, I think I would have traded my kids to any kind Native I met along the way. My children get bored very easily and are quite vocal about it, too!

We bought our van almost five years ago when we discovered we were having twins. I love our van. It's a very comfortable ride and it even has a few modern conveniences including a VCR. Ah...but there's the rub. Our van is a 2001 model...maybe 2002 (I'm fuzzy on the details), and then, a VCR in your van was a modern convenience. Now, not so much. Have you tried looking for VHS tapes recently? Movies on tape? Ya...not so easy to find. Even consignment shops have stopped carrying them. My old VHS taped kids' stuff was getting LAME. I think I'll have a epileptic seizure if I hear Elmo or Arthur one more time on our trips. It's virtually impossible to locate any Disney films on VHS, but I have located a few for my sanity.

Our solution: a portable DVD player! Yay!! A purchase Robin swore would cost no more than "about $30-40" ended up costing $130 because of cords and "this and that", whatever that means. Honestly, I don't care! As long as it gives me some sanity from the "I'M BORED, MOMMY!" that seems to happen at about hour 0.35 into the trip, I'm good.

So, off to Best Buy to purchase it. Robin tried it out before we left and all systems were good to go. We managed to stave off the kids until after breakfast. Our rule is no movies until after breakfast, because by then we've made it almost half way and I figure I can handle movies after that point. Besides, we leave so darn early expressly hoping they'll fall back asleep once we're on the road. As they get older, the less this has actually been happening. :S

After breakfast, we fired up the dvd player, popped in Cars and we were off. Until the dvd player just stopped playing. About two thirds of the way in, it stopped. Apparently the battery died and it wasn't drawing anything from our car battery. Everything was plugged in where it was supposed to be, but nada. No juice, therefore, no Cars.

Thankfully, I'd forgotten a tape in the VCR from our previous trip, so the kids watched that...twice.

We made it here in one piece and with all our minds sane. Robin has charged up the battery and has apparently ironed out our wrinkles with the player. Apparently, we had it plugged in the cigarette lighter spot and we were supposed to plug it in somewhere else. As long as it works, I don't really care where it gets plugged in. But, just in case, I'm going to ask Robin to bring back some VHS tapes when he comes back in a couple of weeks. As much as I love Aladdin, I can't take Robin Williams for more than one film showing.