On the Road Again

Michael found out last week that he was needed at a conference in Dallas. He was excited because his parents and two sisters live near Fort Worth. So we decided that we would make a vacation out of it. With much trepidation, we decided to drive. To give you an idea of what a big decision that was, I will tell you about our last drive to Texas. It happened when we were young and fancy free (before the minivan.) We were in the middle of nowhere when one of our tires blew out. After changing it into the little spare and driving 20 mph for a month until we found a town, we spent our life-savings for a new tire. Then we made a wrong turn and ended up in Oklahoma city. We had been busy listening to a book-on-tape to notice; so we took the two legs of the triangle instead of the hypotenuse. We then vowed that we would never make that trip again. We have kept this promise for over 10 years (and Southwest Airlines thanks us for it.) But now that we have to purchase 4 tickets and it was a last-minute trip, we decided it was worth it. To prepare, we printed directions from Google and packed a road atlas. We also left the book-on-tape at home. The trip to Texas was completely uneventful. The kids did wonderfully well and we stopped at a hotel in Clarendon (half-way) for the night. After swimming in the indoor pool and making friends with the manager, we drove the remainder of the way. The kids watched movies on the DVD player and we chatted. I don't think we have talked so much in one day since the last trip. We wondered why we waited so long to drive. Then on the way home, we remembered. We left Fort Worth to a balmy 60 degree day. By the time we reached Amarillo, the roads were icy and it was snowing. Ten miles past Amarillo, we couldn't see the lines on the road and decided to find a hotel. We spent the night in beautiful Vega Texas. The lady checking in ahead of us was shaking and told us that she slid across two lanes of traffic and ended up in the median. We were glad we stopped when we did. The next morning was much better and we made it home with no problem. Don't worry Southwest Airlines, we'll be back soon.

Nathaniel likes to look at and chase G'ma and Gaffer's cats.