I was going to name this post “On The Road Again” but my sister suggested the current title, and seeing as how it’s pretty accurate (and less boring than my idea), here we are.

Anyone coming from a large family knows the significance of gathering everyone in the same place at the same time. Even more significant is gathering everyone in the same place at the same time to be transported somewhere else as one cohesive, happy, family unit. It’s pretty much a modern day miracle.

What am I even talking about? One word:

Road trip!

(Apparently that’s two words, who knew.)

But yes, it’s true. My whole family (all 10 of us—yeah, we’re one of those families) is currently crammed into one vehicle, happily hurtling down the highway, headed for warmer climates! Seeing as how the current temperature at home is below 0°, it honestly won’t take much southward travel to get somewhere warmer. Thankfully, though, our final destination is a little sunnier than Iowa (but just barely).

Starting this writing month off on the road wasn’t my first choice, but I’ve actually gotten excited about it. It’ll definitely make things interesting! Travel brings perspective you don’t get while sitting at home in your bedroom, alternating your gaze between your computer screen, the wall directly behind your computer screen, and occasionally the friendly neighborhood spider doing his thing in the corner (“you” in this case is definitely referring to me). Thoughts will flow, as well as the coffee, and inspired creativity levels are practically guaranteed to be through the roof.

Mostly, though, the 24+ hours of being squished next to my plethora of siblings will provide endless stories, quotes, and other such fodder for entertaining the masses (or, like, my grandma if she ends up reading this).

So. If you’re trapped inside because the weather outside is beyond frightful, and your schedule isn’t quite conducive to a last-minute trip to the tropics, please feel free to follow along with the Arends Family Adventures and live vicariously through our. . . well. Adventures, I guess.

But also, we’re two hours in and we’ve already stopped twice and my brother dropped a cup full of rice and the floor is frozen and the windows are frozen but the heat is blasting directly into my eyeballs and my three square inches of personal space are slowly being encroached upon by boxes full of LaCroix and my sisters are already falling asleep on me.

Send help.