Long Haul

Fifteen

Another hour on the road and it was dark. It was almost 9 PM and the original plan was for them to get to Talladega by 10, but after multiple stops, that clearly wasn't happening. It was looking more like midnight at the earliest now. She didn't even know if they'd be able to get to their bus at that point. The track probably wouldn't be letting anyone in at midnight on a Tuesday.

Things were quiet for a little longer before Dayton was getting hungry, not to mention her being exhausted as well. They all were. Ashton clearly didn't want to get upset with her but everything was making their yearly family road trip, a living nightmare. Anything that could go wrong, was going wrong.

"Mommy I'm hungry," Dayton whined, looking to the front where Ashton was on her phone.

"Here baby," she whispered, handing her a single serving size of goldfish.

"Are we almost there?" She asked, trying to stay calm but really wanting to get out of the car.

"We're still a few hours away. Sorry nugget," Kade sighed, taking a breath as they crossed the state line out of South Carolina and into Georgia.

"I wanna be there!"

"We do too honey," Ashton sighed, leaning back in her seat as it started to rain.

"Mommy can we stop," Dayton whined again.

"Baby daddy needs to focus. Watch a movie on your tablet," Ashton suggested, hoping to get her focused on something.

"Mommy I want to sleep in my bed," she whined, starting to cry now.

"Baby I know. I want to get there too but right now we don't have a choice," she sighed, sitting back in her seat as it just got worse. Meaning the rain and Dayton. She was done. "Kade let's just pull over for the night,"

"Alright," he nodded, pulling off the next exit ramp to the city of Commerce, Georgia. They luckily found a hotel right off the ramp and thanked their lucky stars that they had a room open for the night. It was going to be a little cramped with a king-sized bed and a pullout couch, along with a crib that the hotel had brought up for them.

"I'll get the baby's bottle, will you set up her bed?" Ashton asked, looking at Kade as she got the food box open and got the formula out.

Kade nodded and got Dayton's bed pulled out of the couch, setting it up with her blankets and sheets.

"Where's stuffy, nugget?" Kade asked as he looked all over for the stuffed bear that Dayton couldn't sleep without. He was terrified that it was left at home or that they had left it behind at the rest stop or when they stopped to get gas.

"I think it's in the car," she said, sheepishly as she didn't want to make her father mad.

"I'll be right back, get in bed. Is Blanky in there too?"

"Mhm," she nodded, getting in bed just as she was told.

It was only a few minutes before Kade had run downstairs and outside, grabbed the blanket and her favorite stuffed animal so Dayton could settle into bed.

Once Bristol was fed and Dayton was settled and fast asleep, Kade and Ashton flopped into bed.

"Well this year is not going how we planned it to," Kade sighed, pulling the blankets over them.

"I know," she sighed, "we've never had this much of an issue,"

"It was just a bunch of things. If Peanut would've taken a nap, that wouldn't have happened, If we hadn't forgotten the stroller, we could've kept going instead of stopping to make sure we had the formula. And then Dayton was hungry and tired, and then the rain. This year just wasn't in our favor,"

She sighed and nodded, also pulling the blanket up and snuggling up to go to sleep.

——————

They checked out the next morning, getting back on the road and making it from Commerce, Georgia to Talladega in just under 4 hours. They only stopped for one bathroom break and one break to feed Bristol before they finally pulled into the track on Wednesday around noon.

Their bus had made it a few hours before them and their driver was already settled in the hotel room that they paid for.

"Home sweet bus," Ashton sighed, getting ready to get out as Kade pulled the car right up to their motorhome.

"Thank god we're here with no problems today," he sighed, getting the car seat out and carrying Bristol inside.

"You can say that again," she sighed, sitting on the couch and getting Bristol out of her car seat while she shook up a bottle.

"We need to go get that stroller if we want to go anywhere,"

"We can just use the wrap. She'll be fine if she's on one of us," she sighed, waving it off.

"What should we have for lunch?" He asked, looking in the fridge for anything to make.

"We should have enough to make pepperoni sandwiches," Ashton said as he pulled them out and started making 3 sandwiches on the counter.

After they all ate, they spent the rest of the day watching movies in the motorhome, knowing most of the other drivers were going to show up the next day.