I slept a bit later than I had wanted to do this morning, but as soon as I did start stirring I hit the ground running. Robby checked the interstate cameras and saw that the roads were fine so our Arlington trip was on go.
I worked on the laundry and dishes while packing my stuff. Then I moved on to packing Whitman and getting the kids to start packing and showering. It was around 12, and I had even started on cleaning the kitchen when Robby called me from outside.
He had pulled the car out of the garage about 8 feet and was already stuck. He had already tried to dig out, but he was getting no where. He finally had to use the suburban's 4 wheel drive to pull the van....a few feet and then it was stuck again.
We did this for a good 45 minutes-a few feet and then stuck, pull it out only to move a few more feet again. The goal was to get to the tracks in the road and driveway-and when we were there, we were able to go a few feet until we were stuck once again!
Robby had already driven in the suburban to look at Lawson and had seen that those roads were not just clear, but dry. Robby didn't think that the white van, with its rear wheel drive, would be able to get down our street and up the little hill on Yvonne and then over the hump of snow onto Lawson. So we had to figure out plan B quickly.
Leaving tomorrow had been an option, but all of this water will turn to ice so we would be in the same pickle with the white van since we would have to leave early. We then decided to use the suburban-less room to pack and one person without a seat.
That was fine since one kid could ride with the Wilsons. Thankfully, we hadn't packed the white van yet. so we left it where it was (it wasn't moving anyway) Robby moved the car into the garage, and we started loading it up.
I had people start going to the bathroom-you know, we have gotten used to not having to do that. In the camper, we just get in and go-and can just use the restroom anytime we want. Lordy mercy, I am so glad that we abandoned the plans to take the camper early in the week. There would have been no way we could have gotten that beast to Lawson.
We had wanted to pull out at 2, and we just about did. We stopped at the gas station down the road to fill up. That is where the Wilsons met up with us. They offered to come down our street, but we just bet there. Graham jumped in their car and we jumped on the road.
For the most part, the roads to the interstate were dry. There were some spots that were slush and some wet areas, but we didn't have any trouble. And yes, we went around the big curve very, very slowly. Then we were on the interstate following behind the Wilsons.
We didn't get too far before Robby realized that his windshield wiper fluid wasn't working very well at all. We stopped at Caddo Valley to see if he could clean his windows-they were getting pretty bad with all of the spray from the cars. That all happened with perfect timing because at about that time, Anderson mentioned needing to go to the restroom.
The drive didn't take too long and before we knew it, we were in Texas. The Wilsons had to stop for a bathroom stop and the gas station didn't have gas-that made Robby a bit uncomfortable. Soon though we were making reservations for the night right near Dallas.
We are actually right after the big lake-we did stop at Buccee's on the way into the town. We left with jerky, sugared pecans, sugared cashews and some Buccees nuggets (I think that is what they are called!-we didn't get into them just yet.) Robby is now on a mission to go to Buccees (that was just our second one to go to) when he has plenty of time to see everything.
We didn't have that much time tonight because we were on a mission to get to the hotel before the temps dipped below freezing. From there, we were only about 20 minutes from the hotel. The Whataburger right in front of the hotel was closed, so we drove about 3 miles back to go to another one.
They were really efficient and soon we were back on our way with all of our food. There is no dining in right now, so we headed back to the hotel to eat there. We quickly noticed on our drive back to the hotel, that those wet roads were becoming slick-we slid a few times so Robby put the car in 4 wheel drive. We weren't too sure if that helped on ice, but it did make us feel better.
After that, we had no problems and were soon unpacking at the hotel. We were indeed pretty thankful that we had not brought the white car-there were a few times when we were driving on ice in parking lots and that booger would have been stuck!
We ate in the lobby of the hotel and then had to walk back to the van on the slippery parking lot to unload. It is chilly out there right now, and I am kicking myself for not bringing a blanket. I guess that I really should have grabbed Whitman's out of the car-he could have used it in the van since my toes were cold the whole time and could use it now sitting in my bed while typing-I'm chilly.
The Wilsons are upstairs, and the boys are next door to us. Campbell has already had a shower, and Robby has already fixed all of our cords so everything can plug in. I guess that we will have lights out pretty early around here and get some good sleep! Maybe-or maybe I will stay up late reading all of my magazines that I brought.
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