more or less ready

I'm packed, got the oil changed in the van and it's got a full gas tank, I found a very nice porable DVD player (and a really crappy rig to hang in on the back of the front seat), deposited my paycheck today, got snacks and drinks and games for the kids, and am probably as ready as I'm going to get.

I got just about everything checked off on my lists (all three of them), but I still feel like I'm forgetting something. But then I always do, so that's nothing new.

It's interesting that both Google and Mapquest say the trip is 597 miles, yet have slightly different directions, and Google predicts the trip to be an hour longer at 10 hours and 31 minutes. I'm supposed to be able to go 400 miles on one tank of gas, so theoretically I should only have to stop once for gas. But as we all know, despite that theory and practice are supposed to be the same in theory, in practice we know they are different. Tomorrow will be no exception. If I can manage 3-4 hours between stops, we shouldn't have to stop more than 4 times, and I'll be happy with that.

And, as I will be away from a computer for the next 5 days, I want to wish an early Happy Birthday to the fabulous Miss J!