You Know You're Tired When...

...you forget to gas up before heading home.  Now, you might think this isn't a big deal, but where we live, it is.  After an afternoon of errands, grocery shopping, a visit to the library and early dinner, we left town at 5:15 PM and there was still light! 

Hooray!  The days are getting longer again!

Anyway, as my spouse and I were conversing, my brain finally made the connection that I forgot to gas up before leaving town.  This is partly due to a change of routine in our shopping pattern, and partly due to being sick this week on top of writing report cards (there should be a law against teachers driving during report card season).  We were already twenty minutes into the trip home (a one and a half hour drive in winter - one way), so the debate was, "Do we keep going and hope there will be enough gas for a return trip?" versus, "If we go off the road, will we have enough gas to keep the car warm until help comes?"  The second comment was the deciding factor, so I turned the car around, drove us back into town, gassed up, and then we headed back home, in the dark, with blowing snow and reduced visibility.  Thank goodness there were no deer or other creatures leaping onto the road during the trip home.  From now on, the gas station is the first stop when we go to town, ...well, maybe the second...there's always time for Tim Horton's.

On the Road

We are now safely in Thunder Bay (aka "the evil vortex that is Thunder Bay", according to my father-in-law). The kids are in their jammies watching Treehouse TV (a novelty for them), EK is out for a run and I'm, well, enjoying free Wi-Fi. Though the day got off to a slow start (which needed a boost from Tim's: a coffee for me, a French vanilla cap for EK), we have finished the first leg of our journey to southern Ontario to visit family and friends. Because we have driven the route a few times now, we try to find a new place for taking a break from driving, to stretch our legs and eat some food. We stopped today at Raleigh Falls, which the little people loved. We ate a picnic right beside the falls and hiked down a trail a bit. JK threw in many branches to watch them float down the river (his new favourite thing). The stop was a nice break from the tedious drive to Thunder Bay (not one of my favourite drives). I am looking forward to tomorrow, and though we have an early start, I love driving through and enjoying the landscape of Lake Superior country.