Compact Car

I drive a VW Jetta TDI.  I love my car.  I truly do.  I love it for multiple reasons.  One of the top reasons is that it gets, on average, 47-48 mpg! This comes in handy during family roadtrip vacations such as the one we just returned from.  The four of us, two adults and two teenagers, rode in our compact car from the Texas Hill Country, through New Mexico, up into Colorado, and back again over the past week.  And we brought all our stuff with us.  I don't know what it is, but I absolutely have to have my stuff with me--as in surrounding me and touching me at all times...kind of like my very own jackdaw nest.  Only....I totally need my space!  This poses quite the problem for me because, although I finally packed "light" (instead of a gigantic suitcase on wheels I brought a small suitcase on wheels...and a duffel...and a "bathroom/cosmetic pouch"...and a tote for all of my reading material...and a small backpack for all of the charger cords for our electronics......)
Luckily my son has been immersing himself in all things Bear Grylls so he packed like a true survivor and basically left home with the clothes he had on his back, and binoculars.  My daughter, thank goodness, does not have the pack rat/girl scout mentality of her mother and could carry her "luggage" in both hands.  Since my kids' legs are now longer than their torsos there was no way I would be able to scoot or lay my seat back.  Even when sitting in the back seat with my daughter for a while I had to convince my spine that it was comfortable in a twisted position.  But, with the help of my eyemask, my earplugs, and a couple Advil too many I lived to tell the tale.  We had a great time and were able to see some pretty amazing things.  Like the time my daughter got to stare at the soles of my feet for a couple hundred miles.