538 miles 24 hours

At about 7:30 pm, we stop at a rest area and Serena has the kids change into pajamas. They have had on the same clothes since Wednesday morning. We let the dogs out and feed them. Serena and Lilly curl up under the prayer shawl. Katie and Abby are wide awake and will not be quiet. Kevin is exhausted and desperately tries to take a nap.

Nana called and is following our progress on her atlas.

Obviously we have let the girls watch to much tv. Abby asks, "Do they have bars in New York?" "Good because when I grow up I want to be a coyote." Don't worry, Kevin and I don't support this aspiration and will be more closely monitoring what movies she watches.

After everyone in the van is tucked in and the doors locked Katie has to use the bathroom. We had to park on the ramp going back to the interstate with the semis. Because we were pulling the trailer the guard would not let us park in the parking lot with the other vehicles. Anyway, it was not safe for me to walk Katie back to the rest area so she had to go in a bucket which we emptied out the window. She was mortified and Abby got a huge kick out of the whole thing.

At 9:30 we get back on the road again. We are still traveling uphill. Kevin said, "We must be on top of the world by now." A few miles later we go straight downhill. Nilla is restless again and Serena has to keep her off Lilly's lap. We drive through 6 miles of construction.

At 10 pm we enter West Virginia. Serena had fallen asleep and wakes up really confused. Katie on the other hand is still wide awake. Serena pulls it together and updates the travel log and tries to get pictures. It is dark out and the flash only reflects on the window glass. It is too bad becasue West Virginia was beautiful. Serena's favorite part of the trip. There was a long bridge all lit up since it was night and also a long tunnel that we drove through. We drove in the slow lane for 3 miles going up a huge hill. The older girls finally fall asleep and Serena wakes up enough to help Kevin drive.