“The important thing about a problem is not its solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution”

Shad, Cashe, & I left early on Sunday morning for northern California, where Shad's sales market is located. Little did we know what the road ahead looked like for us (literally). Our biggest concern was that we weren't sure how Cashe would travel & we actually debated on whether or not we should even attempt this big trip with a newborn. We decided that it would really be best for him to adapt to traveling at such a young age, so off we went!

Two hours into the trip we had our first diaper change, which included a full wardrobe change for Cashe (& almost mom too). The car was packed to the brim & attempting to change a diaper on a wiggly, poopy newborn was not an easy feat. And this mom refused to step outside in the 8-degree weather in an attempt to make this diaper change a little easier. However, somehow I managed to build a make-shift changing table on the backseat & we got the job done.


Note to self: never use non-brand-name-diapers & you can never have too many trash bags.

We arrived in Reno just in time for the next feeding/diaper change. This diaper change had me crying (tears from much laughter). Apparently, Cashe wasn't quite finished when I thought it was time to start changing him. I had to stop attempting to clean him & just hold the wipe under him & let him finish. He was making all sorts of noises, but obviously felt better when it was all over & mom had lost all ability to focus on the task at hand.

So, of course after that episode, I thought I deserved a medal, so we hit up the first In & Out Burger we saw (yeah, this pregnancy weight is no where near coming off anytime soon), & we moved right along ...

... until we started the incline of the pass that goes through Tahoe National Forest (Donner Pass, maybe?). It had been snowing in Reno fairly lightly & the further we climbed the mountain, the bigger the flakes became.

Then, we passed a 3-car accident that had just happened; one car was missing it's bumper, one car was sideways across both lanes & the last car was scrunched against a fence. My heart was racing & I felt so nauseated (first time ever after eating In & Out - how depressing). Although Cashe was quite the travelin' man, traveling, well driving in general, is so different with a baby in the backseat.

We continued driving for probably 5 minutes before traffic came to a complete standstill. We sat in a parking lot of cars on the highway for probably an hour before we started to move again. The snow was coming down fast though & as we climbed the mountain, we saw flashing lights ahead. They closed the pass.

This was the only route to northern California, so we headed back down the mountain & checked into "Boomtown", a casino/hotel just outside of Reno for the night.

I was always one of those people who said I would never bring my child into a casino come hell or high water. Well, the only entrance to our room included a jaunt through the casino. Lovely. The only thing missing from this picture was Shad's sleeveless Nascar shirt, our cigarettes & Cashe had one too many onesies on. (Whatta way to tempt those Gamblers Annonymous folks who may just need a warm room to sleep in for the night. Why not have a separate hotel entrance that didn't promote lung cancer? Note: I promise I'm not judging - we have spent many hours in casinos; I just didn't want to expose my newborn to that environment.)

After a long smoke-infested walk to our room, we got settled & decided to head to Denny's (although this was a very nice hotel, our only restaurant option- again, not judging ... just not my favorite restaurant) for dinner. The problem was, Cashe was not a happy camper. (His fussy time is between 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m., so it looks like we're destined to be eating with the old folks & having the early bird specials at 4:00 p.m. if we expect to have a peaceful meal.)

The best part about this though, was convincing Shad that the noisy walk through the casino would essentially calm Cashe down & he'd be asleep by the time we made it to the restaurant. The tough part was getting him quiet through the hallways & down the elevator. The best part was Shad's solution to this: he jogged Cashe in circles around the elevator lobby in his stroller! I wish I would have filmed it; again, I was laughing so hard I was crying!

Sure enough, I was right. Cashe was asleep by the time we made it to dinner. Problem was, he wasn't asleep for long (& no one wants to hear a child wailing while they eat their meal). Our food hadn't arrived, so I took Cashe for another jog around the Kids Center/Arcade until he fell back asleep, which didn't take long ... but didn't last long either. I took two bites of my salad & was off to the Arcade again.

Shad grabbed us to-go boxes & we headed up to the room. The problem this time was, they forgot to put my salad in the to-go box! Shad opened it for me & the box was empty! (Seriously?! What else could go wrong?) So while I fed Cashe, he ran back down to Denny's & our sweet little waitress gave me another salad & even wrote me the cutest note that said she hoped Cashe would sleep well for us that night & apologized for forgetting to box up my salad (I vote she gets Employee of the Month - how sweet!)

Well, just as Cashe was getting settled, Shad brought out the yummy dessert he had ordered us to go (a hot fudge brownie sundae - again, why isn't this weight budging?) The problem this time? Dessert had pretty well melted. No worries though, I don't mind soft ice cream. The real problem: we had no silverware. At this point, I just couldn't help but continue laughing. Seriously? Poor Shad wasn't going to run through the casino for the 16th time, so I told him to be creative & we would still find a way to enjoy our dessert. And we did. We ate with cup-spoons. Very creative ... & perhaps very marketable.

Bored yet?? Well the story gets better.

We went to sleep (might I add that Cashe did wonderfully!) & woke up the next morning to over a foot of snow! (Thank goodness I had Cashe's snow boots!!) Problem: we had no scraper for our car. The good thing though, was they had plowed the pass all night so it was open. We fueled up & started the trek up the mountain again. 30 miles per hour was the maximum speed.

We made it to what we thought was the top of the pass, but this mountain was like none other - the top peaked at over 7,000 feet! We came upon yet another car accident that had us parked again in a sea of cars for two hours. Like everyone else, we turned off the engine & just enjoyed the scenery (which not only included several toothless truck drivers huddled together to smoke their cigarettes, several college-aged skiiers whose curiosity was getting the best of them & had them running to the scene of the accident only to be disappointed with no news, as well as the layers & layers of gorgeous pine trees covered in snow.)

FINALLY, we got to continue our journey down the mountain. Once we were in Sacramento, the snow was gone & the sun was out. It was 50-degrees outside.

We stopped again for the last time to feed & change Cashe before finally reaching our destination. As soon as we were finished, Shad turned the car back on ... only to find out the battery had died. WHAT? You have got to be kidding me! Thankfully, there was a super nice guy who graciously jumped us, ... err ... our car, I mean. And we were off!

The final problemo? No, not the Tiger Woods' drama. Sitting for two days in a car only brought back my back issues. SHOOT ME. As soon as we checked into our hotel, I got out of the car & couldn't stand up straight. I walk like Quasimoto, The Hunchback of Notre Dame & carrying Cashe is certainly a challenge.

The best part about all this has been the laughter we have all shared & the story this has created. We are grateful that we can all be together & we look forward to a fun adventure ahead of us here in this beautiful wine country. Yes, life has changed, but we're rollin' with the punches.