We’ve been having so much fun looking for license plates.  I know this is nothing new.  People who like travel games do it all the time, and it’s a great distraction for kids, but I am suddenly addicted.  There are 2 different games you can play: either see who can find the plate that’s the farthest away in a given period of time (which is good for short trips, like an hour or two) or try to find as many states as you can on your trip (which is good for long trips).  You will be amazed at how far we Americans travel in our cars!  For the second variation it really helps to have a blank map of the US.  That way the kids can keep track of which plates they’ve spotted by coloring in the states (of course the adults don’t really need a map because we already know how to color and we can probably just remember what we saw and besides, we don’t compete with our children because that would be, well, childish, right?).   It’s also a fun way to sneak in a little geography lesson.  So guess which plate I, I mean we, spotted today in Missouri?  ALASKA!  And just a few days ago we saw MEXICO!  No kidding.  My point is not, as you may be thinking, that we are easily amused.  It is that living on the road has eliminated enough stress from our everyday lives that we are able to enjoy even simple things.  It wasn't that long ago that I was so distracted and so busy that I would have overlooked something like this.  So go ahead, try it.  I know you're busy, but try it anyway.  See how many different plates you can find.  I think it might actually be the cure to road rage. 

Yesterday our little actor got to “do his stuff” at the Missoula Children’s Theater auditions at Scott Air Force Base.  He really enjoys participating in these plays at home so he was pretty happy to find out that he could audition here in St. Louis.  The play is a silly cross between The Wizard of Oz and Home on the Range called “The Wiz of the West”.  Instead of flying monkeys there are buzzards and the Wicked Witch is named Hawk-nose Halley.  After 2 hours of singing, dancing and strutting their stuff the kids were finished.  The parts were assigned and Griffin is now a tarantula!  (He’s excited because he was told that the tarantulas save the day!)  The troop will practice for just one week and then perform on Saturday.  Should be a good show (can't wait to see the tarantula costume).  Plus now we have a good excuse to stay in St. Louis a little longer and maybe even go back to Charlie Gitto’s for more toasted raviolis !  Yum! 

Before we took off, I approached several different companies to see if they were interested in supporting our trip.  I was always told, “Ask for what you want.  The worst thing that can happen is they tell you no, and even then you’re no worse off than you were when you started.”  I believe that, so I asked all kinds of different companies if they cared to make a contribution to our journey.  I got several positive responses, like the history curriculum that was donated by Oxford University Press and a 3 month family membership donated by the Memphis Area YMCA.  I also got many responses like the one I received from Monaco Coach, who builds the motorhome we’re in.  They wrote, “Unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide a motorhome for your journey.  We are always excited to learn how our motorhomes are being used, and many times they strengthen the family ties through shared experiences like the ones you are discussing.  Good luck on your adventure.”  Oh well.  I tried. 

Then, a few days ago we happened to be eating at Cracker Barrel and to our surprise we came across “The Greatest Family Road Trip Game” sponsored by…guess who?  Monaco.  They are giving away a Monaco coach, plus road trip money to whoever collects 3 stickers – one that says “Good”, one that says “Country” and one that says “Cookin”.  Well, we have “Good” and we have “Country”, now all we need is “Cookin”.  I think it would be so funny if we won.  Our little guy has it all worked out - he thinks we could sell the RV (since we already have one) and use the money to stay on the road longer.  Not a bad idea.  I think we may have to use the money just to pay for gas!  I can see it now…”Hello Monaco, remember me?”  Anyway, if you happen to eat at Cracker Barrel and get a “Cookin” sticker that you aren’t going to use, we’ll take it:)  (and I recommend the chicken fried chicken - yummy!)  

Part of living on the road is dealing with bugs and other critters.  We’ve had our fair share of spider bites, mosquito bites and ticks.  Just a normal day for a couple of adventurous little boys.   Not a big deal, at least not until now.  A week ago our oldest son came to me with a tick in his belly button that had been there for a while (he didn’t know how long – he hadn’t noticed it).  The day after it was removed he developed a rash.  The rash bothered me, so I took him to the doctor.  The doctor asked if he had experienced bad headaches, muscle aches, nausea, or loss of appetite.  He hadn’t, but the doctor decided to draw some blood and check for Lyme disease anyway, given that we had been traveling through Indiana, Illinois and Missouri recently.  The test came back negative, but two days later he had the chills, fever, headaches, muscle aches.  Now I was worried.  In the end, after a recheck, we got a prescription for Lyme disease.  We were fortunate to be able to fill the prescription at a Schnucks pharmacy.  For people who may not know, Schnucks has a Free Prescription Drug Program for generic oral antibiotics that includes up to a 21 day supply as well as refills of the following seven antibiotics:  Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin (Generic for CIPRO), Doxycycline, Erythromycin, Penicillin, and Trimeth/Sulfa (Generic for SEPTRA or BACTRIM).  To find a Schnucks pharmacy near you, click here.