The Road Trip

With Jay being deployed, I was excited to have some alone time with my girls. The first month rolled by so smoothly. I was relieved to know that I could handle three girls on my own.  I am by no means bragging that I could be a single parent. I am not responsible for earning finances to support my family, so I am at no where near the stress level of those providing for their children on their own.  But the fact that the girls were all still alive was quite an achievement for me.

Then everything started to go down hill.

I got scared.

There had been a small crime wave move through neighborhoods around mine.  Some were waking up with home-invaders in their living rooms and bedrooms in the middle of the night. That thought just terrified me.  Then, there was an alleged shooting in the Wal-Mart parking lot that I frequent with my girls.  After hearing about the attempted break-in two houses over, I was shaking in my boots.  I found out about all three of these incidents on the same day.

I felt like the world was spinning around me.

I was going to go visit my mom and her new hubby for a while. I phoned her and asked if I could come sooner and stay longer. I wanted to get my girls away from here as quickly as possible.  Of course she agreed and flew down to ride home with me.  She arrived on Madelyn's birthday. Here are some pictures from that day.

I am truly blessed for having her in my life. And Mom and her David. They are amazing people!

So, we shipped a few boxes of clothes off to Kansas and loaded up the truck with everything else we could fit in there. We made very good use of space in that thing. I gave my house keys to a friend and we backed out the driveway.

I stopped and checked to make sure we had all three girls before we got too far down the road.

We did.

We were about three hours out of El Paso and were cruising down I-20 towards Dallas/Ft. Worth. The posted speed limit for vehicles was 80 mph, unless you are traveling at night, which it is then 65 mph. The posted speed limit for trucks is 70 mph, unless they are traveling at night, which is then 65 mph. Talk about confusing!

I set my cruise control at 85 and was sailing along.

Then, from the oncoming traffic, I see a black car take the ditch in the median! He was going so fast, bouncing around through the grass. Oh, yes, we had made it out of the desert and into a prairie-type of landscape. That was a welcomed sight to see! But, the car bounced so hard it ended up doing a one-eighty and head back in my direction! It must not have bothered him at all. He wanted help though, because he turned on some fancy red and blue twinkle lights.  I thought it meant that he needed to use my cell phone, or at least ask how to get back to the other side of the interstate.

He must not have trusted my directions too much after he came to my window. He didn't believe that I was who I was. So I had to show him my identification.  Then he must have wanted to know the details of the fine automobile that I was driving, because he asked for the registration papers and the insurance card. He sure was a nosy fella.  But, he had a gun, so I handed them over. I had a car full of precious cargo. I wasn't about to make him mad.

He gave them back to me and smiled and asked where I was going. I told him the circumstances of my living arrangements and he just smiled at me. He told me that the speed limits there are only 80 and that I was going 86.  I have no idea how he knew that! Must have a special talent.  He left and got back in his car. I assumed he was done talking to me, so I took off again.

Poor man. Must have been lonely. He must have been pretty desperate to talk to a car full of hot chicks.

I set my cruise at 83 and we blasted outta there, again. Sheesh. Now I have all that time to make up!

We stopped in Eastland, Texas for the night, and made it to Norman, Oklahoma for lunch the next day. Madelyn met a friend at McDonald's. It was fun watching them reunited again.

After several more hours on the road, we made it to the Finley-Knudsen camp around 1745 hrs. It was dark. But, we made it! The girls barreled out of the truck and we unloaded all of our gear. Gramma had to get some snuggles from her David, and Madelyn made herself at home rather quickly.

On Saturday, Gramma and her three dumplings made pies and tarts for High Prairie's Bazaar. It was interesting.

On Sunday, we all went to Otterbein for worship. That was a blast to see all my church family again. Audrey had her own captive audience, though...

It was a beautiful day, so we had to play outside after our naps. Gramma took the older two, and I took the younger two.

We all ended up enjoying some quiet laughs up by the house.

And for Monday, we capped the evening by watching the beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, Madelyn begins school, again. She went with me to enroll, and grew very excited about it.  I can't wait to hear about her first day. Or to experience that tiny parking lot and/or drop-off lane. They have over 800 kids attending there. Oh boy.
------------------------------------------------

If you have any questions or comments you would like to share directly with me, please email thearmymommy@gmail.com