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What’s the definition of insanity? It very well may be driving across four states with two small children. Well, ok, it’s not that bad, but it is trying. This spring break we headed down to Raleigh, North Carolina. My wife’s best friend is getting married, and she is the Matron of Honor so sort of had to go. She gets to have all sorts of fun running around like crazy in the last minute stretch of this wedding, and I get to spend some quality time with my kids. Oh, and see my parents, too. They live just outside of Raleigh.

Being here is really nice, and I’m enjoying time with my family, but man, is that drive tough. I don’t know where kids get it, but my daughter is fully in the “are we there, yet?” phase. It’s about fourteen hours without stopping. In other words, its about two days for us. To sweeten it off, this time we had to worry about a huge winter storm. We spent two days trying to decide which route to take down that would avoid the worst of it. Going through Indianapolis was out of the question. I was leaning toward going straight down through Illinois and cutting through Nashville. Truthfully, I just wanted to go through Nashville. That would have been a nightmare. The storm hit central and southern Illinois HARD. My wife came up with the idea of heading to Cleveland and then going straight south. She won, and it was the best choice imaginable. We sailed right through in between pockets of the storm. It was amazing.

We stopped about half way to grab a few hours of sleep at a hotel on the border of Ohio and West Virginia. If you are going to do a road trip with small kids, you really have to stop over somewhere. We used to make the drive in one straight shot, but those days are gone. After our quick stop, it was on through my least favorite part: through the Mountains. I’m not ashamed to admit that my wife, Katie, masterfully handles this part of the drive. I have an irrational fear that I’m going to be sucked over the edge of a cliff.

We’re here now. My wife is out again doing her MoH duties, and I’m watching Sesame Street with the kids while figuring out what we are gong to do today. I’m thinking about checking out the booming arts district in Raleigh. I brought a bunch of books to do some research, too. I’m shifting my focus a touch to reflect more of my life as a post-punk father, so I checked out most of the books on punk culture from the library and am hoping to find some time to thumb through them before going back to classes. I hope everyone is enjoying their spring break, and I will leave it there until next week. SPRING BREAK, WOO!!!!