Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Another Wacky Road Trip

I didn't remember until my mother in law reminded me, but we always have insane road trips at Thanksgiving.
One year when Toots was a baby, Mister Luke and Jackie Boy alternated throwing up every five minutes for seven hours straight. 
I called it mother hazing!

Another year, we had high winds all the way. Semi trucks were along the highway, tipped over.
And those were our trips from California to Reno.

This year, the trip was longer and slower than ever. 
A storm was afoot and we drove 40 mph or under nearly the whole way through icy, snowy, windy roads.

The temperatures were below zero most of the way.
I looked at these cows and thought of the commercial-
Happy cows come from California.
I just felt so bad for them. I think it was 22 below zero when I took this.


See, the car says it is negative twelve. That's not even with a wind chill factor.


We were all packed up though.
We did have the heat on in the car, but I think Mister Luke wore his hat and jacket the whole way.
Destructo Dog is somewhere behind all that stuff in her own little cubby.


Here are the icy roads I was talking about. 
We felt like ice truckers. 
This actually looks good. Most of the time, visibility was much worse and winds were high. 



We passed a brand new truck in a ditch, pulled there by the fifth wheel trailer attached to it. a van flipped over on the side of the road and many other cars that had slid off the road into snowy ditches.



Hottie Husband did an amazing job keeping us safe. No sudden turns, slow speeds, super careful driving.  His hands ached from gripping the steering wheel for so long.
After a sleep over in Butte, and 21 hours of driving (It was supposed to be 17), we 
were very thankful to arrive at 1am  Thanksgiving morning to Grammy and Papa's house.


It was worth it for the time we were able to spend with family.
We enjoyed a delicious thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's house and the kids loved hanging out with their cousins.

We watched football,


And then ate yummy food.
This picture is so funny because all the kids in the front are wide-eyed and the ones in the back are sleeping. 


Where's my food?


 Don't worry, Grammy always makes sure you get dessert.


We all loved being at Grammy and Papa's house for the holiday.


Have you ever had any wacky road trips?

4 comments:

*Reading Between the Lines* said...

Oh....Been there done that!
We use to drive from Montana to Nebraska at Christmas time....white outs, icy roads.
I can't travel on those kinds of wintery roads anymore.
No more driving winter trips for me.
YIKES!
Glad that the Lord Jesus kept you all safe.
Take care,
Nancy
P.S. That when the prayers to the Lord get really loud. ;-)

Farmgirl Paints said...

I hate that weather. Unfortunately that's what Minnesota is like most of the time in late December and all of January! HATE IT! It's scary cold. I've cried trying to get my groceries in the car at the store before. YIKES...I'm getting depressed just talking about it.

Anyhoo worse road trip was a blizzard we drove through from Phoenix, AZ to IL. Took us approx 40 hours to get home. Thought we were going to DIE!

Farmgirl Paints said...

I hate that weather. Unfortunately that's what Minnesota is like most of the time in late December and all of January! HATE IT! It's scary cold. I've cried trying to get my groceries in the car at the store before. YIKES...I'm getting depressed just talking about it.

Anyhoo worse road trip was a blizzard we drove through from Phoenix, AZ to IL. Took us approx 40 hours to get home. Thought we were going to DIE!

Angie said...

We have taken a wild trip from Texas to Breckenridge CO. IT was WILD! We didn't know we were driving through white out conditions....ha! But the hubs got us there safely!

I love the pic of all the kids piled up on the couch...so fun!

Looks like a great time!