Day 20: I didn’t run away, but maybe should have.

Our day trip to Springfield was a failure, especially because it took a day and a half.

Nothing seemed to go right for our family adventure. This was true in part because my regular bus driver in Normal implied we had single handedly put her bus behind schedule, in part because I have enough information for a whole chapter of my future book, “Why I don’t ride Amtrak,” and in part because we arrived home a full 17 hours later than intended.

Did I mention I have two young children and it was very, very hot outside.

In truth, I’m feeling a little like my project is failing. I had hoped life without a car would have been something that proved fulfilling and feasible.

I had at least hoped my husband and I --— eating pizza and drinking cocktails on the bathroom floor of our hotel room while our sleeping children occupied the room with the TV — wouldn’t have joked about buying a Hummer when we got home.

Not the “small” one either. We want that original monster, the one that eats gas parked in the driveway.

“What are you going to fill it with,” I asked my husband.

“Cold air,” he said