Kerkof Krew: California Road Trip Part I

We set out on February 17th for our first family road trip to California to see the Hernandez and Welch Crew. This was the longest time Joey had been in the car in one setting and he did amazingly well. We made sure to stop off every so often and let him get out and stretch his legs. We left Fee-Fay around 8am on the 17th. Joey started the trip in his jammies with his daily Eggo waffle. We managed to drive all the way into almost Central Oregon before our first stop. Luckily Joey took his first nap before we stopped.

Baby tiger came on the trip too.

Out of his jammies and stretching his legs at a rest stop in Oregon.

We continued on through Oregon and as we got closer to Eugene we realized we could use some lunch. That was when I realized Matt and I were both decked out in Husky gear. I told him we had to continue on to the next town as I knew if we stopped there we would have trouble with the Duck fans. I did not feel like having saliva in my food that day. We managed to swing by and get some food a couple of towns past Eugene.

After that we decided we should make it to the Pass before dark. We were making great time! Once we hit Mt Ashland, we were into some snow but nothing too major. Joey decided to take another snooze, which was great. We also never could have made it without the portable DVD player and tons of movies.

We made it into California and it was still pretty light out. We headed for Yreka. Joey was still asleep when we got there so we thought we should try and make it to Redding. Once we pulled into Weed, the snow was getting a little crazy. Not WA crazy but Cali crazy. They are much more cautious down there driving in it. At this point they were requiring all single axle vehicles towing something to chain up. Most of the semis were too. We really did not think it was that bad.

We got stuck in a long back up at Weed so the DOT guys could check vehicles for chains. Once we got moving again it wasn't too bad until we got stuck behind two snow plows and it got dark. We could only go about 30mph for at least 40 miles. It was a major bummer. By this time Joey had woken up and was not a happy camper. The poor guy was sitting in a messy diaper and we had no where to pull off. Luckily we made it to Redding around 7pm and checked into a hotel. Joey was so happy to be changed and to run around the room! Luckily the Hilton Garden Inn had room service, which we ordered. The food was quite tasty. Joey took a bath and then we settled in. We rented the Disney movie Tangled and called it a night.

The next morning we slept in. We really needed it. We left Redding around 11am and made our way to Tracy. We got in around 2pm. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, checked into the hotel and headed over to see the Hernandez crew.

Jackie was home with Ellie and Gaby. We could hardly believe it had been a year since we saw them last. Joey is a completely different person from this time last year. We did some playing and waiting for Josh and Kaitlyn to come home. After dinner, the boys stayed home with most of the kids and Jackie, Ellie and I went to take Kaitlyn to her dance team practice. It was great to see her perform. She is quite good. She also gets to dance at Disneyland in a couple of weeks.

After returning home from dance practice, the Kerkof Krew headed to the hotel for some sleep! We had a big weekend ahead of us.