Yesterday was a rough day. D and I had made the decision to make the drive home a straight through excursion. He drove for most of the day and then I drove for a few hours before we got dinner. The snow was coming down when we were in Ohio so I had my first snow driving experience. In total we saw fourteen accidents while we were doing our 50mph pace. At least four of them were cars that had completely turned over and sadly we couldn’t do anything but keep moving. When we stopped for dinner in Cincinnati we took our time and enjoyed the meal. We figured that the snow would be done falling by the time we got back in the car and to our amazement we were right. 

The game plan from there was for D to drive until he got tired. While he was driving I was going to go ahead and catch some Z's so that I was ready to switch out with him. So for the next four hours I catched some light Z's while he played some music from Weird Al. It was an on and off kind of sleep. The problem with his car (the Prius) is that the car itself is pretty small so when it is full to the brim with stuff, it is literally full. It’s not all the comfortable and reclining was difficult. So for me to catch sleep I pretty much stayed in the center of the seat and did my best to keep my head from dropping and making things awkward. 

Around midnight I woke up to him asking if we wanted to stop at the KOA in Kentucky (we stayed at one in Horse Cave Kentucky that was about eight hours home). I told him no and that I was good to just drive home. As much as I wanted to go see mammoth cave again I also wanted to just go home. Both were appealing and we both were broke. With everything we did we needed to put a stop somewhere. This was my way of saving us some cash. 

D drove for another hour before it became to much for him to keep going. So we pulled into a gas station, I got some coffee and I took over the car. The big difference between D and I is that he hasn’t really done a lot of exploring in the U.S so for him doing these kinds of drives are new. He hasn’t stayed up and driven straight through to get home. He hasn’t experienced the jitters you get from having too much coffee. The late night stops at the gas station to have some snacks so that you have something to chew. For four years I have been doing this all on my own and for four years I have grown to understand myself more and more when I am traveling. So for me, the last six hours would be a cake walk to get home. 

So I drove. I drove us at a pace of 75 mph and kept it there the entire way. Google said we would be home between 6-7 a.m and I was going to do my best to make it there at the time and no later. So for the rest of the drive I cranked up the music and played my podcast while my bf slept away. Every now and then he would awaken, check on me and then go back to sleep. 

We did make it home around 7 a.m and it was rough. I had a total of three hours of sleep throughout an entire day of traveling. So when we got back home we unpacked the car and I then hoped my happy self-back in my own bed. Let me say, that it is so satisfying to sleep in your own bed after a long ass trip. It makes everything worth it. 

With that being said though please be careful if you are making a long straight through trip home. It really can be dangerous and if you aren’t sure about doing anything like that then please find somewhere to sleep. It really is dangerous to pull all night drives and the possibility of you falling asleep at the wheel is very high. So please, please ,please be careful while you are out there traveling.