This vacation is a first on many levels. This is the first road trip we've taken with our #2 married son, Brady, and his lovely wife, Kristen, who just happens to be preggers with our first grandson (due in November).
This is the first family vacation we've taken without #3 son, Cameron. Yes, friends, he now has a job -- thank God and Subway for gainful employment, however tedious and maddening it may be -- and didn't feel like he should ask for time off after only working there such a short time. It was rather sad this morning as we hugged him goodbye, but we know that we're beginning another one of those "seasons of life." *sigh*
#1 son did not get to come along this time either because of his work schedule between concert tours with the band. Have I mentioned that they've played all over the world and will be going back to Europe on July 15?
This is also the first time that Kristen has been on a road trip of this magnitude, period. And the first time she will visit one of our favorite vacation spots: Creede, Colorado.
Anyway, on to the travelogue. First morning of vacation and my stupid BlackBerry alarm went off at 6:30. Yes, I forgot to turn off my regular workday alarm before going to bed last night. I turned off the annoying little vibrating ting-a-ling after the first intrusion and went back to sleep until Dear woke me up at 8:15. We'd decided to get everything ready this morning (our typical travel M.O.) and be ready to leave our house at 11. We had to gas up Granny's car and take it and her mail to her, go to the bank, and be at B&K's house around noon-ish.
If you've read me at all in the past, you know that we are not those vacationers who get up at the crack of dawn to get an early start on the day. That would NOT be vacation-like at all in our humble opinions. So, we got everything packed up and into Dear's car in plenty of time to get away by our 11:00 target.
We said our goodbyes to #1 and #3 and left the house at 11:03 a.m. So far, so good. Dear made the bank run and I took Granny's car for gas and then to her apartment for safe keeping. I've been driving her car ever since she had the hip replacement surgery back in May because we now have 4 commuting drivers in our household and only 3 vehicles that belong to us. Since Mother wouldn't be driving for a while, having her car to use has really been a help for us. Thanks, Mother!
Anyway, Dear met me at Mother's apartment and, after a short visit, we left for B&K's house. We pulled into their driveway at 12:06 p.m., transferred our belongings to their Pilot, said bye-bye and be good to the grand-dogs (Jaxon and Syndey), and left their house at 12:30. Brady needed to drop off his other vehicle for repairs at a dealership in Arlington, so he and Dear went in the truck and Kristen and I followed them in the Pilot.
Traffic was horrendous with all the I-30 construction going on in Arlington (all your fault, Jerry Jones [no relation]), but we finally got the vehicle situation taken care of and made more progress toward actually getting on "the road." Fort Worth traffic was doubly-horrendous and we were all hungry (especially little mama). Brady got us to a Cheddar's somewhere northwest of Fort Worth and we ate lunch. We had debated on whether to have Mexican food "one last time" in Texas before we leave the land of Tex-Mex for a week (yes, we're Tex-Mex junkies), but we figured Cheddar's was safer in light of the road trip ahead in confined quarters.
As we were sitting in the booth waiting for our food to arrive, a family was seated in the booth behind us. Dad, Mom, three boys and a girl. The dad had one of those BOOMING VOICES, even when he was supposed to be using an "inside" tone, and we learned that the little girl had just had her tonsils removed and wasn't feeling much like eating. Dad was determined that she should have SOMETHING IN HER TUMMY or at least SOMETHING TO DRINK. HOW ABOUT SOME RASPBERRY LEMONADE, KATIE?
Now, if any of you dear readers have been through the tonsillectomy process -- especially the first recovery days after surgery -- you know that the LAST thing you'd want to drink is RASPBERRY LEMONADE!!! Duh, Dad. Thankfully, Katie declined that offer. So Dad went through virtually ALL the menu choices until Katie finally decided on a VANILLA MILK SHAKE.
By this time, the three brothers were restless and the youngest one (looked to be about 2 years old) started bonking Dad on the shoulder with a sippy-cup. Dad must have been made of glass, because the OWWW he let out would have been more appropriate for a brick bashing than a sippy-cup bonk. Needless to say, we finished our meal as quickly as possible and got out of there and back to the quietness of our adult-occupant vehicle.
We officially got "on the road" at 2:30. I'd made hotel reservations in Amarillo, so we knew our destination and stopping point for the night. The drive was really uneventful. We made a couple of potty-break stops and had a DQ Blizzard somewhere around Bowie. We switched seats when B wanted to take a little snooze, so Dear drove and I got in front with him. By the time B actually got nested in the back seat, he was fully awake -- isn't that always how it goes? -- and so we put on some vacation tunes to start the trip off in traditional fashion. Patsy Cline, Eddy Arnold and Riders in the Sky. K was reading a novel during the Patsy and Eddy selections, but when RITS started singing "Ghost Riders in the Sky" with the cattle calls and yodels she said "Are you serious??" and dug out some earplugs so she could concentrate.
Then B started fiddling around with "stuff" that was lying around amongst the packed items, found a sun visor and put it on upside down for the comic effect. K got out the camera and took a couple of pictures and it just went downhill from there. I uploaded a couple of mobile photos 
to Facebook to start off the Vacation 2009 album, and I fi
gured out how to put them in here, too. Well, I'll have to work on the layout thing, but at least you can see this pictures. I took the Dumas one (I have to stop and think everytime I say that city name...think about it) for my friend LaShera. Dumas is her home town and we pay homage to it in her honor as we pass through. (Don't tell LaShera I said so, but the place always smells like cattle.)
to Facebook to start off the Vacation 2009 album, and I fi
gured out how to put them in here, too. Well, I'll have to work on the layout thing, but at least you can see this pictures. I took the Dumas one (I have to stop and think everytime I say that city name...think about it) for my friend LaShera. Dumas is her home town and we pay homage to it in her honor as we pass through. (Don't tell LaShera I said so, but the place always smells like cattle.)We got to Amarillo about 8:15 and decided to assuage the Tex-Mex cravings at Abuelo's before checking into the hotel. The Pilot GPS directed us to the restaurant and we had a wonderful dinner. It was quiet because we were all winding down from the excitement of a full day and a 6-hour drive. After dinner, B drove us to the hotel, I checked us in, and we're situated for the night.
And so it has begun. We miss you #1 and #3!
ttfn
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