There were some gifts for the granddaughters that hadn't arrived in time for pre-holiday shipping, so I volunteered to deliver them. They only live four hours away.

We had the discussion and made the plan earlier this week. I've really got nothing better to do, it'd be nice to get out of the house, and I could take the more agreeable traveler with, and give her a break; the kids sometimes do better separated. This was before we made the day-long travels on Christmas Eve, but I think we recovered OK.

The daughter agreed to come with, citing she needed some time away from her brother. She wanted to be sure that she could watch shows on her iPad, or play games, and that there would be snacks, and cheeseburgers for lunch. All terms found to be acceptable, we planned to set out right after breakfast.

The wife woke with a really sore throat, though. And thought she had some kind of growth on her throat. She went to urgent care to get a strep and COVID test, and whatever else they suggested. She came back a couple hours later, and was told it's probably not COVID, and that it was probably not strep. They'd have strep results in a little while, and COVID results in a couple days, but she should feel free to go about her normal day. So we finished packing and set out a couple hours later than expected.

We stopped and grabbed some bottles of drink and baggies of snacks, topped off the gas, and hit the road. The drive was messier in the city than any time after we left. There were more slick spots and drifts that hit the road on the city highways than the country ones. There are more bridges, and denser traffic. More wind buffers and road linings, and trees, so I'm sure all of that factored in.

About an hour into the drive, the daughter said she was starting to get ready for food. I checked with Waze, and it said it'd be another 45 minutes before we passed by the golden arches, but less than 15 before we hit an alternative burger joint. She said she could wait. About 30 minutes later, she said she was really hungry and maybe shouldn't have waited. I commiserated, but warned her that there was nothing between where we were and any burger joint faster than the one we were heading to. She looked around and said "there's really nothing here, is there" as it was fields and tree clumps in every direction, with no other cars visible on the road.

We made our McStop just fine, she was revitalized with her car picnic. We made good time for the rest of the trek.

We made it to the older daughter's work, where she met us in the parking lot to accept the box of stuff, and share some stories. She'd brought the girls up a week before to visit us and get away. She was super glad to chat. We stuck around for about her entire break, and then set off toward home.

The younger daughter wanted to see the older daughter's house, so we made the few block swing through town to see it. "She should have a big house like ours," was the assessment. More cheeseburgers were asked for, and since we had a known long gap before the next opportunity, we made another McStop before leaving that town.

It was dark shortly after. We made one "gotta pee" and leg-stretching stop. Later we made another as we needed more gas; we got within 15 miles of a round-trip on one tank, which is pretty good. We were home around the estimated bedtime.

The boy had just gotten ready, and wanted to check-in before he checked-out. We calmed everyone and the dogs down again, got pajamas on, and the kids fell asleep pretty quickly.

Courier day over. All the way across the state and back.

Everyone's healthy.