For Christmas this year, we drove all the way from Georgia to Utah to visit our fantastic family. We estimated that it would take about 30 hours, and we would break it up into three relatively easy days.
Our first day started much later than we had planned. When Erick got home from work, he showed me a note that someone had left on the car. It said that there was a nail in our tire. I am so grateful for whoever noticed the nail and left the note. Our 30-hour drive could have been disastrous...
We took the car to a tire place to have it patched. It turned out there were nails in two tires, and one of the nails had punctured the sidewall. So we had to purchase new tires on the spot. Once the car was travel-ready, we loaded up the kids and headed off for our adventure.
We were aware of some serious weather hitting the Midwest through Kansas, Missouri, and other nearby states, so we stayed south as long as we could. We drove through Alabama and Louisiana and Texas. We hit some pretty intense rainstorms the first day but nothing too scary. I felt much more comfortable riding in the rain with new tires.
By the second evening, we had made it to Amarillo, Texas. We were surprised to see snow and ice in the area. Because of the weather, we decided we would only go another hour or so before stopping for the night. Unfortunately, the weather, the other drivers, and the Texas roads had other plans. We hit traffic. Not slow moving traffic. It was non-moving traffic. For hours. We were stuck, without moving for about three hours.
Luckily, we had blankets in the car and plenty of gas. We turned off the car and only turned it back on when we got really cold. It was seven degrees outside, and we were parked on a solid inch of ice on the freeway.
After three hours, a cop car pulled up (waking anyone who could sleep), and the traffic started moving. Fast. Suddenly, there were no cars in front of us. We decided to keep moving forward until we saw the next hotel. We didn't ever get that far. After almost 10 miles (and no exits) we hit the traffic again. This time it didn't move for over six hours. The kids and Erick and I all slept in our cold car. On the freeway. In ice-cold Texas. We had bathroom breaks in the middle of the road on an inch of solid ice while holding blankets up for privacy. Talk about an adventure!
In the morning, after nine total hours of being stuck, the traffic finally moved forward. Slowly. We were only a few miles from the New Mexico border. Once we started moving, the other side of the freeway stopped. I feel so sorry for those guys:
As soon as we hit the border, the roads were clean and ice-free. We couldn't figure out where all the cars from the traffic jam went. There were no cars on the road.
We drove 'til breakfast time and stopped at McDonald's. It was nice to eat inside the warm restaurant.
Inside, I overheard a woman sharing her traffic experience with another group who had survived the same traffic jam. She had called the Texas emergency hotline for stranded motorists. Even though she had been stuck for over 6 hours at the time, they told her they had not heard of any road delays or trouble between Amarillo and the New Mexico border. Next she called the same emergency hotline for New Mexico. They said they were aware of the trouble, and had done all in their power within their state. They told her the cause of the traffic (even though it was in Texas) and let her know that help was on the scene trying to remedy the problem. The woman then called the local news to complain about the Texas highways and their inability to share information with the public. It was pretty entertaining.
We tried to make the best of our third driving day. We were pretty tired, but our spirits were high. Bailey decided to play a trick on her sleeping sister. She opened a soft chocolate candy bar (it had been by the heater), and placed it in Joey's open hand while she slept. In her sleep, Joey rubbed her face and her hair. When she woke up, she was covered in chocolate. Bailey thought it was pretty funny. Erick and I, however, were not amused. We still had 12 hours or more drive, and we would not have access to a shower before then.
We stopped at a fun Native American trading post. Joey cleaned up the best that she could in the bathroom, and we enjoyed picking out snacks and looking at the hats and jewelry.
As tired as we were, we wanted to see something new and have an adventure. So we stopped at the Four Corners. This is where Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico meet together. I am so glad we stopped. The kids loved it. They ran around in circles and bragged about running a marathon through four states in 30 seconds. We purchased some jewelry and an ornament from some Native American vendors. It was so fun.
We would still take us several hours to drive to Grandma B's house, but we enjoyed the New Mexico and Southern Utah scenery while there was a bit of light left...
Can you see the silhouette of our minivan?
