The Adventures of T&A

After three days in Amarillo, TX we were ready to go mad. We finally got out Monday morning and those hundred-thousand friends of ours were all there too. Traffic was horrible.   It took us all day to make it from Amarillo, TX to Albuquerque, NM, about a four hour drive. We got off in one place to get gas and there was only one route in plowed thru the snow. Once we got in line for gas, we could not get out. We were there about an hour in line with big-rigs and RV’s filling their hundred-gallon tanks. If the station had run out of gas, it could have incited a riot. The weather was cold, but tempers were running hot.

We found a hotel in Las Vegas, MN just north of Albuquerque. They had been packed too, for the last few days with travelers stranded. It was a much quieter place now and we finally got some sleep. 

Simon is quite confused. We keep telling him we are going home, but we take him to places that don’t smell anything like the home he expects. 

Our second morning in Amarillo, we heard that the road was opened. We got excited and headed out I-40 about 20 miles… only to get turned around. Roads were still closed in New Mexico.

A hundred-thousand of our very best friends all got to go back to Amarillo with us. We called ahead and the hotel we were staying didn’t have any openings. We found another place, much bigger, more people, much louder. And it was New Year’s Eve. We had hoped to be in Colorado by New Year’s. (sigh) All three of us got very little sleep (Simon had to growl or bark at every noise, protecting us, of course).

Happy freekin’ New Year.

We had to decide whether to take I-70, thru Kansas and Eastern Colorado or I-40 thru Oklahoma and northern Texas. We checked the weather and there were thunderstorms and tornados south of us in Texas and a winter snow storm dumping snow on Denver again north of us. We thought we could slide thru along I-40 to Albuquerque and head north on I-25. Mother Nature had other plans for us. We got as far as Amarillo, TX and we stopped for the night. The highway signs announced that I-40 and I-25 were closed in New Mexico due to “Winter Weather Conditions”.

The next morning we awoke to a quarter inch of ice on EVERYTHING. The trees and grasses were beautiful, all shiny, but ice is impossible to get around on. I fell twice and bruised my ego (and my butt). We just stayed put and made the best of things for the day. We can get out tomorrow.

We had to decide whether to take I-70, thru Kansas and Eastern Colorado or I-40 thru Oklahoma and northern Texas. We checked the weather and there were thunderstorms and tornados south of us in Texas and a winter snow storm dumping snow on Denver again north of us. We thought we could slide thru along I-40 to Albuquerque and head north on I-25.

Mother Nature had other plans for us. We got as far as Amarillo, TX and we stopped for the night. The highway signs announced that I-40 and I-25 were closed in New Mexico due to “Winter Weather Conditions”.  This is as far as we can go for now.

Our first night after leaving Birmingham, we made it past the Oklahoma state line to a town called Sallisaw. We found a hotel that was inexpensive and took dogs. When we got there, they told us that the rooms they had available we next to “The Club”. We were tired and there was a breezeway between us and the Club, so we took it. Surely it couldn’t be that loud on a Thursday night.

We quickly found out that the Club was a Bring-Your-Own-Bottle club with Karaoke on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Ugh! They music varied from barely heard to quite annoying. It was off and on until about 2am. We had a late night.

We rented a hitch mounted U-Haul and filled it up with our tools and office furniture and a few other things we thought we might need.  We made the trip to Birmingham from Colorado in two days, with Simon, we figured we’ll need two and a half to three days to get back.  We’ve heard about some bad weather in the Denver area, so we are watching the reports and making our route decisions on the fly.

We drove the long, 12 hour drive to Birmingham, AL, to Anita and Phil’s house where most of our stuff is stored.  We have Simon with us and he’s so excited to be going “home”.  He just doesn’t realize it’s not the same “home” he left. 

Andrew and I were planning on visiting with my sisters Gay and Anneleise, but as we were getting ready to leave, it started raining really hard.  We heard about some tornado warnings for the afternoon.  We decided to stay with the doggies at Dianne’s house until the storm blew over.  I called and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.  We head out tomorrow.

After visiting with Grandma Rose for a few days, we continued over to Ft Myers to visit my family and to see our dog Simon.  We’ve missed him a lot while we were traveling.  We hope he remembers us.  I don’t know how good a doggie’s long term memory is.

We drove up to Dianne’s house and heard Simon barking.  We walked towards the door and I called Simon’s name.  Silence.  We got to the front door and we saw our Simon with the biggest doggie grin on his face!!  He remembers us!!!  We opened the door and let him out, he ran circles around the yard and back to jump on us.