Wait, there was something before that. Thanksgiving.
It really was a great Thanksgiving. We went out to La Leona in Terlingua to hang out with my Father-in-Law, his bride to be, Sunny, my b-i-l and s-i-l and their two kids.
It is ~12hr for us to get there when factoring in that Buddy and Reanie don't coordinate their bathroom stops. It would be 14 hr still, but they don't mind taking a leak on the side of the road. Good kids.
Noah hopped a plane from Orlando on the Tuesday after spending a long weekend with Scott and Lisa at DisneyWorld. We then got our first (of eleventy gazillion) monkeywrench when Chloe's new job scheduled a thing for her Wednesday morning, which necessitated us waiting until after that call (didn't) happen.
So, now 12 hr behind, we began our 12 hr drive. Made it just fine, thank you, even with a one hour walmart stop (on the evening before Thanksgiving, no less) in somewhereinthemiddleofnowhere, TX.
Thanksgiving day was as Norman Rockwell as can be given where we were. Good memories. Friday was a day trip to Marfa and then a great hike with everyone in IForgotTheName Canyon on the way back through Presidio. I even got a ride in on the rollers that evening.
Then the rain came. A lot much.
We woke up the next day seeing snow on the mountains. Ahhhh. But all that pretty came with a price. Lots of cloud cover means solar power not so good. And then there's the fact that it is several miles of "road", through the desert. Desert and rain not so good company.
That the storms were coming wasn't really a surprise, but we didn't count on that the batteries would dry up at the house, giving us no power, and ultimately no water. And with no way out due to the muddy roads, we, um...
So Lonnie IV head out in his car with his family. The plan here was that they would call if the road wasn't passable. His car is 4wd. Ours isn't, and we were pulling a trailer (you BETTER tell me how much you like the table we brought back). He called. But with no power, the phone to the house wasn't ringing. So he called cell phones, which don't really get reception out there. So he left a message, which we got when Lonnie III came out to meet us after we got stuck in the mud trying to 4wd our 2wd while pulling that trailer.
I cussed so much that I'm no longer allowed to cuss. Of course, my tolerance was low what with having a stomach bug that meant I needed a toilet every 15 minutes, so being stuck in the middle of the desert with nothing but mud for miles around and no place to nicely make more...well, you know. I guess it could have been worse and we ran out of paper...oh, wait, that did happen. So I guess it could have been worse and it could have been cold...oh, wait, that did happen. It could have been worse, I'm sure, but I'm still afraid to think what it could be lest it actually happen.
We did eventually get back to the house. With nothing really to do except fret about the clouds moving in but relish the fact that we couldn't get stucker, we took naps and waited for the one guy who could pull us out got back from hunting. Of course, it was taking him awhile since he was stuck in the mud out in the desert somewhere too.
With it getting close to dark, and me tired of doing nothing but napping and sitting on the toilet and praying that there was enough pressure in the toilet tank to make a flush, Lonnie took me back out to the car, and I got us unstuck (!) for about 100yards until I got stuck again. This time I just stayed with the car and hoped a Russian sattelite landed on me.
Eventually, one of Lonnie's tenants, who happens to be the Terlingua Fire Chief, who happened to commandeer one of the 4wds for the town just so HE could get home, pulled me out. Backwards. By the trailer.
Now, I won't claim to be all manly, but I did attend most of the man classes along the way. I can back up a trailer. I have to think about it, but I don't have to hold my hands up with my thumb and index finger extended to remember which way is "L" for left, but I'm a
Eventually we get on to something to drive our vehicle that is more like stew than soup, and the kids and Mama are delivered, and we started the 12 hr drive home.
Check that.
With all the mud on our car, it wasn't driving well. In fact, we couldn't go much over 40mph, which was fine since the road to Alpine was snow and ice. Yeehaw.
With the car shaking in such a way that 4year old boys can't help but go uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh no matter how many times you
Once in Alpine I found a car wash so I could powerspray some of the mud off of the wheels so that they would spin and allow us to go, maybe, 50mph instead of 40mph. Of course the dollar changer thing wouldn't take my dollar bill, and the car wash takes $1.50, and we only had 5 quarters...
Eventually God sent down a $5 bill and I was torn between using it for quarters or toilet paper. But the car won out and I power washed $3 worth of mud from the wheels.
Which means we could drive 45mph all the way to Ft Stockton (look at the map again, please. be sure you check the scale). Once there I pulled into
At least then we could roll at 65-70mph.
Well, that is if the highways and bridges weren't covered with ice.
Totally beat, and with even Buddy talking sense about getting a motel for the night, we pulled into Colorado City and made camp. I slept well between my 8 trips to the bathroom in 6hr. I wrote Troy's name and phone number on the wall in that motel room. American Inn, room #127.
Reanie and Noah played in the snow in the morning. Then we loaded up and rolled out. But from then on, the trip was rather uneventful.
When we got close enough to home that things started to look familiar to Reanie, she started crying. I asked her, "What's wrong." She said, "I don't know. It's just so much."
With only a couple hours left in the school day by the time we got home, we just didn't bother. Noah and I got in a quick 10 mile ride. Lisa came over and picked up Noah since she hadn't seen him since Tuesday, and then we ate pizza and made a fire.
We all slept so well last night that we overslept this morning and Reanie was a little late for school.
But by then was pretty much cured of cussing.
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