Thursday, January 04, 2007

Ryan's First Snow - Was it worth it?


Ryans first Snow 123006
Originally uploaded by momjeeps.

Many of you may have heard about my wonderful trip home from Arizona. As if traveling alone with four children wasn't challenging enough, I decided that going home the North route would be fun for the kids. They don't get to see much snow. I checked weather.com and decided it would be best to leave Saturday morning. I was WRONG!

In the Arizona mountains the kids got out and played in the snow. It was brief and fun.

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Robbie Snow 123006

Where was Robbie's jacket? That mystery wouldn't be solved until we returned to Arkansas and had already purchased a new one.

Girls Snow 123006

Ashlee Snow 123006

We drove on... Into New Mexico. Beautiful snow covered red rock. Little did we know how long we'd be in New Mexico...

New Mexico 123006

The original plan was to make it to Amarillo and get a room. However, I-40 was closed due to snow and ice from Albequerque to the Texas border. So we got a room in Albequerque. After we checked in to the motel we went to Wal-Mart and grabbed some dinner at Sonic. The Wal-Mart was closing at six because of the icy roads.

Here is a picture of a U-Haul that was parked at our motel. We took this picture for daddy.

Uhaul Truck 123106

Because of the icy roads and closure we stayed in our room after eating our breakfast until the last minute before checkout time. The continental breakfast at our motel left tons to be desired. So I spotted an open donut shop and stopped for donuts for lunch. The baker did not make it in that morning so we had day old donuts at half price.

So we got back on the road on the 31st. But we didn't get far... Only eight miles ALL DAY! Thanks to DVD Players, good children, various snacks and music we survived the long day.

Freeway View 010107

These truckers are grilling ON THE FREEWAY! After Robbie took this picture they came over and gave us a rib. YUM!

Freeway BBQ 123106

When we finally made it back to the road closure it had been dark for sometime. I had gotten out of the van to get to the back and get Ryan's bottle for him and fell on the ice on the freeway. Anyway, just as we were getting to the closure they opened the freeway. But mom had already helped me get a room at the same motel for a second night and I wasn't too keen on driving at night on that freeway. So we went back that eight miles to the motel and stayed another night. They next day would be better. (A little).

Well for starters, the donut shop's baker showed up, so we got fresh donuts! Also the road was opened by 9:00 a.m. So we were back in business. But it was slow going. First there was a terrible accident on the freeway in Albequerque. Either a big rig slid over the back of a mini-van or the mini-van slid under the big rig. Once we got past that we got to the portion that had been closed. I was extremely glad I had decided not to try it the night before. This section of freeway would have been awful without ICE! There were grooves in the road where they had changed the lines.

We got through that only to again sit in stopped traffic. It seems there was road construction that took all these cars and trucks to one lane.

I40 out of Albq 010107

Rearview out of Albq 010107

Well, once we got to Texas things started to go better. Mom and Dad wanted me to stop another night, but I was determined to get home. Ryan was really starting show his desire to be out of his seat after three days of this. So I drove all night and we got home Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m. exactly 72 hours after leaving mom and dad's house. (The trip is supposed to take 25 hours or less.) I was not able to function mentally or otherwise, so Rob took the day off so that the children would have some supervision.

I have since recovered and I'm sure the kids and I will have fond memories of this time. But I'm glad its behind us.

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