We started an epic road trip to Texas. Jeff couldn't join us so I drove the kids and myself. Thank heavens for a 17 year old son who could take a turn at the wheel.
Here we are just outside of Monticello.
We took a small detour and visited the Four Corners Monument. It was very hot and the sun was super bright but, we survived a long line to get our pictures.
We stayed the first night in Albuquerque. Here we are at the second hotel, in Waco. We enjoyed our complimentary breakfast and the obligatory Texas-shaped waffle.
We stayed with Jeff's parents for the first few nights. Our cousins, the Andersons, were there too. It was wonderful for these cousins to see eachother.
We went to the Brazos Bend State Park for our first adventure. We were excited to see the promised alligators. At first, we only saw spiders, herons, and a few birds.
Blake found an interesting Texas species. An asp caterpillar. He was climbing on a picnic table and started stressing about something bothering him. He pointed to his leg and then to the ground. I saw this little fuzzy guy and thought it was a seed or some part of a plant. After I nudged it with my foot, it moved. I turned my attention to Blake because he was starting to get more and more upset.
I noticed a welt that was the same shape as the caterpillar starting to raise up on his skin. He was, at that point, very distressed. It was miserably hot and humid so I walked a long way back to the van, hoping he'd be more comfortable. In the van, he was wriggling and writhing in his seat and was grabbing his groin. I decided to drive to the visitor's center. I directed the others to take a picture of the creature so we could show the rangers what got him.
The rangers were sure it was an asp caterpillar and showed me a web page of symptoms. They tried to distract him by letting him touch baby alligators. The poor guy was so miserable.
They couldn't give me any medical advice so, I decided to call 911.
The caterpillar's venomous spines will cause extreme local pain. Some adults describe it as bad as a broken bone. It will cause the lymph nodes in the groin to swell and become painful. This, by itself, isn't dangerous. An allergic reaction is, however. Because Blake's leg was swelling and was bright red, they decided to send medics. He got a Benedryl shot and a ride to the ER in an ambulance.
He was knocked out by the Benedryl but would still wake up and writhe around. In the ER, they said that grown men come in, with these stings, and are screaming in pain.
He was released after they were sure he wasn't going to react, any more.
We went to a delicious chicken tender lunch but Blake was still too miserable. I told the kids we needed to get in the van and take him home, where he could rest. We started on our way to Gma and Gpa's house. I was keeping my eye on Blake as he suffered, in the back of the van and didn't see the 4 way stop. I hit a small black car. It was very loud and painful. Kyle was screaming in fright and the van smelled terrible from the airbag explosion. After making sure we were all ok, we jumped out of the van and onto the side of the road. The air bags had deployed and split the skin on my shin. Katie had a sore thumb from bracing herself. Josh called 911 while I went to the other car to see if they were ok. Surprisingly, they weren't hurt at all and were worried about us.
Sherri and Linda were a few minutes behind us and came upon the scene. They ran to our rescue. Grandma held poor Blake. Sherri got the younger kids in her air conditioned van and helped them calm down. I told the truth the officers and wasn't even issued a citation. I can only think that he was rewarding me for being honest or he felt so bad for me that I just got out of the ER with my little guy.
Here are the miracles we experienced:
1. Joshua, who always sits in the front seat, can't explain why he chose to sit in the middle. The passenger seat was where the impact was and who knows what injuries he would've sustained.
2. Katherine, who always wears her seat belt, (I don't drive until all the kids are buckled in) didn't have hers on. Her buckle was under Blake's car seat and she didn't want to disturb him. This is what she said when I asked her how she wasn't injured. "I heard the accident so I held my hands out and stopped my body with the two middle seats." I believe that angels whispered in her ear to spread her legs apart and brace herself with her hands. I also know that the force of a 40 mph accident is too much for her to brace herself. She should've flown to the front of the van and maybe even into the windshield.
3. I didn't get a ticket.
4. The other car, who was very small, should've suffered much more damage from a large minivan filled with 6 people.
5. Maybe, this small accident stopped us from getting in a worse accident, later. We all learned how to be more aware while operating a vehicle. How much responsibility it is to drive. How important it is to always have car insurance. And, lastly, how much we love each other and need to appreciate each other more.
