Road Trip

I am writing this blog from sunny Arizona; it is glorious, I have to admit. The getting here, however, an entirely different story.

It started last week; Mom and I drove separately to Aunt Linda's (thanks for the hospitality!!) and spent the night there on Friday. I was feeling a little iffy at that point; bad cold, cough...but slept well and we were on the road by 7:30 the next morning...in spite of the SNOW!!

"It can't get any worse," we kept telling each other. But it kept getting worse. By Omaha, snowplows were on the road and the farther west we drove, the more snow and ice we were driving through.

After a quick phone call to a friend in North Platte, NE (who told us they had about six inches of snow and it was still falling!!!) we decided to head south and get off the interstate. Into Kansas we ventured; not so bad for awhile, then it started to rain. And then the temperature kept dropping. We drove in freezing rain through Kansas, through Oklahoma, through Texas and into New Mexico.

Those are icicles on the speed limit sign - I believe this was in Texas. After several phone calls to the "keeper of the radar" (my sister, graciously tracking the radar on her computer), we decided we had to make it to Albuquerque to get out of it. My cold was worse, my eyes were swollen, bloodshot and running constantly and it hurt to not wear my sunglasses (even though there was no sunshine in sight) so Mom ended up driving the majority of the way.

18 hours later, we arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico; only to find out the Hot Air Balloon races were in town. By the grace of God, we found a hotel room, fell into our beds and slept. The next day, we headed southwest once again, this time in sunshine!! The brakes on our van seemed a little shaky, so going over the mountains was an experience, to say the least.

After we finally arrived at our destination, I took the van in to have the brakes looked at - "90 percent gone in the front" is what the brake man told me. It was quite a trip; one that made a lot of memories. And now Mom and I are in sunny Arizona, and it is, as I said before, glorious!!