Baby Across America Tour: We're HOW far away?

Fourth and final in a multi-part series of taking a 7-month-old baby and two dogs halfway across America in a minivan. Read earlier parts here.

Daddy’s Log: Day 10, Sioux Falls, S.D.

Miles: 1,896, Engine hours: 33.2. Clear, 93 degrees (that’s more like it)

How we managed to see all the different relatives and friends, fit in some golf and a cookout in five days is still a blur, but it was time to turn back. Parts of the boy’s first teeth had finally pushed through, the grandparents, aunts and various cousins had essentially absconded with our tour’s rock star for the length of the stay, and it was wonderful.

Though my wife and I were both tired, we were both also finally healthy except for some minor congestion.

Having been through the nightmare heading northwest, and knowing we were going to stop to visit a friend in Columbia for a couple of hours, we hoped to leave again around 11 a.m.

So, of course, it was high noon by the time we returned to the life of long-haul dog and baby trucking, only this time in a scorching, extremely humid day -- a bit jarring after five or six days of weather more like early fall in the Upper Midwest.

Baby Across America Tour: Nightmare Road

Third in a multi-part series of taking a 7-month-old baby and two dogs halfway across America in a minivan. Read earlier parts here.

Daddy’s Log: Day 4, St. Louis metro 

Go big or go home

Finally, I made the call with a threatening sky looming in the west: Back that van up! Annnd we juuuust barely made it. After driving about 2 miles, the unseasonably chilly July day set up another delay: The tires needed more air.

With rain falling again, I ditched the idea of having anything on my feet at all. The good folks of St. Louis County can just be happy I was trying to get moving, because a whole lot more may have come off had I not been trying to make up lost time.

Except for steady rain, the first hour passed with little trouble. As we headed into rural Missouri on I-70, the rain became much heavier, and the outside temperature gauge read 62. In Missouri. In July.

Baby Across America Tour: Diaper Drama

Second in a four-part series of taking a 7-month-old baby and two dogs halfway across America in a minivan. Read Part 1 here.

Daddy’s Log: Day 2, East Ridge, Tenn. 

Miles: 705, Engine hours: 12.8. 11 a.m. EDT, 82, partly sunny, humid

Sorry, Mr. Springsteen,
but this bib speaks the truth.

The start of a new day on the road fully brought home the realization of the things we forgot to bring. Fortunately, none were essential, but would need to be replaced along the way.

After reloading the cooler with ice and spending – seriously – a full half-hour playing Minivan Jenga trying to put everything back in place while corralling the dogs, grabbing something to eat and seeing that the kid’s first tooth STILL hadn’t broken through, it was time to roll westward again.

Despite the lack of sleep, I was starting to slowly emerge from the head cold, but my wife was getting hit far harder than I ever was. We both knew she’d be lucky to drive for more than an hour that day. At least the weather wasn’t too bad quite yet.

Once again, about 45 minutes into the journey, Kirby sounded the poop alarm again. He is nothing if not consistent.

Baby Across America Tour: Behind the music

Little did I know how exciting the life of a long-haul baby and dog mover could be.
(It's quite possible I was rapping to Salt-n-Pepa here.)

They tried to warn me. They really did.

After first sharing plans for our Baby Across America Tour, nearly everyone – friends, family, neighbors -- responded with wide eyes and one word: Why?

They had a point.

After all, we were talking about loading a minivan with two adults, two dogs, a 7-month-old boy, everything but our furniture, and then driving in the heart of summer on a cross-country tour that would keep us on the road for 15 days.