It’s day one of our spring break trip. I’m going on about 5 hours of sleep,  for about the 400th day in a row.

Last night, Dave and I were in Buffalo for the Nick Mason concert. We drove home this morning – a 2-1/2 hour drive,  finished packing, and picked up our daughter early from school for the start of our 9- day road trip.

I love road trips, and we’ve made several – cross country twice, up the California coast, up the eastern seaboard – but this time, we’re doing something new and visiting Quebec City, Montreal, and Toronto.

I’ve only been to Quebec City once, and my memories of the place are all good. But the pressure is on to share that with the family. It’s a very much self-induced pressure to create the perfect experience.

So I got the confirmation from my AirBnB tonight and it’s not the walking distance it appeared to be from old town (unless a 40-minute walk down one highway and across another is your idea of a nice walk). We like going into a new place, being walking distance from the stuff we want to do, and having the ability to walk wherever we go.

Between the surprise of the location (not the host’s fault … just my misunderstanding of how Quebec City is laid out), the fact that I’m tired, and the worry that my daughter (who has been burning the candle at both ends) actually has bronchitis and not just a cold – well, our first night hit a small speed bump. As in me sitting on the bed crying quietly because I felt like I’d ruined the trip.

Yep. Even a seasoned and experienced road tripper who makes lists in her sleep and plans everything (we have a suitcase with toilet paper and extra toiletries just in case our AirBnBs don’t have what they say they do. It’s one of those things we learned the hard way) can hit a wall of exhaustion and lose it.

It’s just not a fun thing to do when you’re trapped in a small hotel room with 3 other people.

But my tears are dried, I’ve found a parking garage we can drive to that will get us where we need to be tomorrow, and for now, I can just relax.

Dave has You’ve Got Mail playing. Kids are having a snack. Things are getting settled.

And tomorrow is a new day.