Well here we are again it is time for wheels to be rolling and we are not ready. I told you it doesn’t matter how long we have to get ready, we are always last minute. Tracey said he wanted to be on the road at 9am. I set my alarm, got up, got ready for the day and started loading the rest of the stuff into the motorhome. By the time he got up and I woke Caitlynn up, the cleaning ladies were ringing the doorbell, which means it was already after 8:30. Getting everyone showered and dressed for the day and trying to make sure we are not leaving anything behind is hard enough. Now add into the mix taking 3 dogs with us!
So, much to our daughter’s dismay, we are hitting the road to Texas so see our oldest and his family. You see our daughter is on fall break from school, and just so happens to not have skate this week so we are taking full advantage of a very rare opportunity to take her with us. Not that she doesn’t like to travel, she really doesn’t like road trips. Even as much as we tried to explain how nice it is in the RV as opposed to a car. So she is dragging butt a bit. And to add insult to injury, we gave her a new puppy yesterday. Something she has been asking for, for almost 2 years now. She did her research and even decided she didn’t actually want the one she thought she wanted all this time. However, she now, now that we have the puppy, doesn’t like the amount of responsibility it comes with. It is truly like having a baby. Good thing I am already in love with this little guy, so I can help her out in his care.
I received a text from my daughter in law early this morning asking “are you here yet” to which I responded “I wish”. And now as we pull in to the gas station I receive a text from my son “How about now?” So I responded with our family joke answer of “just 5 more miles” (the standard answer every times the kids would ask, “are we there yet?”) To which Chris responds “until the edge of Chandler?” So I am not sure who is more excited, them that we are coming or us to be going!!!
As we approach Lordsburg New Mexico, I am happy to not see clouds and grey skies. Seems like every trip to Burro Mountain this is where we run into a big storm. I see blue sky with some big fluffy white clouds. We decide to fuel up in Lordsburg. On our last trip to Texas we remember on the way home there was a very long stretch of nowhere to get fuel, so we have preplanned a few places to fill up along the way, Lordsburg being the first. Finding the Love’s is not hard since we have been to this one several times. Tracey pulls up to the pumps with the big rigs and I go inside to pay. No one is at the counter on the truckers side so I have to wait, pretty unusual for a Love’s. Once I pay I go out, Tracey begins fueling and washing the windshield. Caitlynn and I take the dogs for a walk in the grass/dirt area. Max is being his usual pain in the behind self. He just does not travel well. He all but pulls my arm out of socket running and pulling and twisting and turning. It wouldn’t be so bad except I am also holding Zeus on a lease in my other hand! I am sure we are a site to see. Ki’oni the new puppy doesn’t know what to think about these two crazy dogs or being out here on a lease. He is so small we can hardly tell if he is doing his business or just standing there. It doesn’t take long and all 3 dogs are done and Max drags us back to the motorhome. Only back to it, as I have to almost drag him back inside, ugh. Crazy dog.
I have now text a pic of the welcome to New Mexico sign and then the welcome to Texas signs to Chris and Rachel to keep them up on our progress.
Chris continues on with his harassment of Tracey for not driving straight through. Remember back in July Chris and Tracey drove Chris’ class C Tioga straight through from Chandler to New Braunfels and arrived in a very very very long 15 and ½ hours. SO Chris is giving Tracey a hard time that he is in his big plush leather super comfy seat in his really nice class A diesel pusher, and there is no reason he can’t make it in one day. There was some name calling in there but we will leave that part out LOL.
As we pass through El Paso I go to point out to Caitlynn where her dad went to college for a couple years, but she is asleep. I snap a few photos of the school and the sign to show her later. While she is asleep I decide to send the pics to my ex. (this is where he was going to school when we met and we traveled through her several times during my other life) so I just send two pics, no comments no conversation just the pics. I get an immediate response, “EL PASO!!!!!! UTEP! Thanks honey!” I had to read it several times before I almost fell out of my seat laughing hysterically. You will have to read my other blog to get the jist of just how absolutely hysterical this is!! Within a minute I receive a second text from my ex “that was meant for Caitlynn” HAHAHAHHAHAHA
We stop in Van Horn for fuel and doggy walking break. And again in Fort Stockton as we know we can fill up here and make it all the way to New Braunfels and back without another fueling if we have to. Tracey has decided we are going to push through and make it in one day. We are on track for arrival of 3am local time. We let the kids know, and they will leave lights on for us to find our rooms.
Caitlynn and the dogs nap off and on. I hate to admit it but my head nods quite a few times. Poor Tracey is just pushing right along. I try to chat with him, to keep us both awake, but I am doing the chatting as Tracey is so focused that he isn’t saying much. When we hit the 1604, about 35 miles from our final destination there is a Walmart off to our left. Tracey points and jokingly says we can just stop there. (Walmarts are awesome for us RVers, they not only allow us to overnight camp in their parking lot, but their parking lots are always good size to get in and out of)
By the time we arrive, Chris is already home from work and he and Rachel come out to greet us. We grab the bare necessities and the dogs and head inside the house. Good night all.
This is why you drive ALL night!
Day 2
Well I set my alarm in an effort to see our granddaughter Lilah before school. I even got up when the alarm went off at 7:30am. And after getting to bed around 4 am it was quite the effort to force myself out of bed. I let our dogs outside and realize it is awfully quiet in the house. I stand in the kitchen listening to see if I can hear her upstairs getting ready. I walk over and stand by the stairs to see if I can see any movement or hear any noise. Nothing. Realizing I have missed her I walk out on the back deck to see if I can see them walk by on their way to school. During the 15 or 20 minutes I wait on the deck I question about a hundred times, whether it would be good or bad for her to see me on her way to school. I never see them walk by and am sad mostly that I missed her but partly because I made myself get up after so little sleep!
I fix a cup of tea and take a seat on the couch and relax. It isn’t that long before the house is a buzz with voices and activity. Rachel returned from taking Lilah to school, Norah wakes up, Tracey comes out of our bedroom and Chris comes down the stairs. This is what it is all about! Life. I decide to go up and get Ki’oni as Caitlynn still has not come downstairs and his little bladder is probably full. She only half opens her eyes as I whisper I am taking her dog outside. The other four dogs all but plow me over as I open the back door to go out. Ki’oni is so cute bounding around in the damp grass. He is so tiny it is hard to tell if he is standing or squatting LOL.
We decide we should all take showers and get ready for the day as it is already noon or so. Chris has to work this evening so we make a plan to eat out all together before he has to head out. Tracey and Chris head over to the restaurant, Rachel Caitlynn Norah and I head to Lilah’s school to pick her up. We made Rachel a little late so there are no empty parking spaces. So Rachel pulls into line and Caitlynn and I get out and walk up to get Lilah. There is a bright pink sign you must show in order to claim your child. It says the child’s first name, last name and teacher’s name. The sign is slightly larger than an 8×10 sheet of paper. Caitlynn and I walk up to where Rachel has told us to go and we find the cone marked “1st grade”. Just as we approached a teacher is leading kids up to the cone. It only takes a moment before I spot Lilah, however she has not spotted us. I watch for a few seconds as she is looking all around. I begin waving the sign I am holding up and down and all around trying to grab her attention without saying anything. It is almost like she is looking right through me and not seeing me. Several times I thought she was looking at me but she still has had no reaction to me being there. Finally, the teacher gets to us, reads the sign I am holding, and calls out Lilah’s name. She reacts to her name being called but still does not see us even though the teacher is looking at us. So I give in and call her name. She looks a bit confused before it registers who she is looking at, but then she runs and jumps in my arms and gives me the biggest hug ever!! It is so good to see her. She finally lets go of my neck and I put her down and it is then she realizes Caitlynn is standing there. She gives her a big hug and then chat about her day. I tell her that mommy is waiting for us and we head to the car. We all load up in the car and head to the restaurant.
As soon as we get inside the restaurant Lilah spots Papa and off she runs. I venture to guess his hug was even bigger than mine!! We enjoyed a great meal of catfish and some tasty local beer. The service was good and our server friendly. We would definitely go again. So next time you are in New Braunfels be sure to check out Clear Springs Restaurant! We finish our meal and Chris has to head to work for the night and the rest of us head home.
We are so exhausted, but trying to not nap and get to bed at a good Texas time so we can be up at a Texas morning time!! We play with the dogs outside, Papa chases the girls around the house and we watch a little tv. There is a knock on the door and the dogs go crazy. Rachel can be heard talking but returns to the couch in a quick minute or two. She explains it was some lady saying she works for Kirby Vacuums and wanted to come in. Rachel said no thank you and the lady was pretty insistent, claiming that even if we don’t buy anything she still gets paid $50 to clean the house during her demonstration. Again Rachel says no thank you. Then she tried to give Rachel some sob story about being pregnant, yada yada yada. Rachel again apologizes and says no thank you and closes the door. She returns to the couch voicing her concerns that how does she know the lady is legit, how does she know they are not just casing the house, etc. We shrug it off and don’t think any more of it.
The girls have a snack and take their showers and get all ready for bed. They come bounding downstairs to give hugs and kisses and say goodnight.
The rest of us share some popcorn and Rachel heads to bed. We are watching Jumanji with Caitlynn when we remember a doTerra training webinar we wanted to be on. So Tracey and I fire up our computers and login to the meeting. Caitlynn watches some of the movie and some of our training. About a third of the way into the webinar Tracey’s computer dies so we both watch on mine. It did have some good points but it was a bit lengthy.
Once it is over Tracey and Caitlynn take the dogs out one last time and we all head to bed. Shortly after crawling into bed I receive a text from Chris asking if we are still awake. I respond with a yes and he then asks if we are all okay. I tell him as far as I know we are all fine and then ask him why he is asking. He said he received an alert on the security camera and there was some guy with a flashlight looking in the garage. YIKES. Funny, not funny haha but funny odd, that the dogs didn’t have any reaction to someone being outside. Tracey got out of bed and patrolled the inside of the house. Checking outside all the downstairs windows and doors. He saw nothing but did this a couple of times before getting back in bed. I let Chris know Tracey saw nothing and Chris sets the alarm from work. Now to see if we can get to sleep after that……………………..
Day 3
Again I awake in hopes of seeing Lilah before she heads to school, but am too late. Norah comes downstairs shortly after I am up and about, and Rachel gets her breakfast and ready for school. I sit at the table with Norah for a bit letting her chat about what ever goes on in that little brain of hers. I could listen to her talk for hours. Of course I only understand about 2/3’s of what she says, which is way better than it used to be. We fondly call it Norah talk, some people say you don’t speak two year old, we say you don’t speak Norah. And it isn’t long before Rachel is telling her to finish getting ready because it is time to leave for school.
Rachel has returned from taking Norah to school and joins me on the couch. I am just starting up a conversation about the strange text from Chris after we went to bed, when Chris comes down the stairs. Rachel is reacting to what I have told her and asking Chris about it. They both look at the security recording on their phones, watching a guy shine a flashlight in the garage door window. It almost appear like he noticed the camera when it clicked on as he turns his face away from the camera and leaves in the opposite direction from which he came. Just plain odd. Rachel is pretty freaked out by it all and Chris turns to me and says “you see that is why I wasn’t going to say anything to her” opps my bad.
We toast up some bagels for everyone and just hang out. Eventually we decide we should all shower up, as we one by one leave the conversation and return shortly looking and probably smelling much better LOL.
We have spent the bulk of the day just being together, we have gone outside to sit on the deck, watched the dogs run around the yard, but mostly sat in the living room just spending time together. It has been great for this momma’s heart.
It is early release day for Lilah but Rachel has to work, so Chris loads the rest of us in his car and we pick up first Lilah and then Norah from their schools. Chris still has to work tonight so we all head to one of Tracey’s favorite spots, Rudy’s BBQ.
Way more enjoyable this time than when I was here in July. No crazy drunk people pushing and shoving. We enjoyed our meal and a little dessert with the girls before we head back to the house with a left of bag for Rachel in hand.
Rachel breaks from work to eat her dinner and Chris heads off to work. We spend the evening playing with the girls and watching a little tv. Once the girls go to bed, we watch a couple episodes of “going RV”. Caitlynn was hungry so I made her the lasagna she brought with us, I pop some popcorn for Tracey and I, and Rachel and I enjoy some local wine.
Not much went on today but we certainly treasure our family time.
Day 4
Did not even try to get up early enough to see Lilah today L just too tired. I slept until just after 8am which is 6am at home, so still up early. We have bagels again this morning and all get showered up and ready for the day. Rachel has some meetings again today for work so Chris takes us to the outlet mall in San Marcos. We spend a few hours wandering around, everyone got a little something. For some strange absolutely bizarre reason Catilynn was NOT in the shopping mood! Anyone with a teenage daughter can relate.
Our timing has not worked out in our favor at all today, so we head back to the house. Chris heads to work without being able to eat with us and we head to pick up Lilah from tennis. I have promised the girls we would take them to Peter Piper Pizza and we are running out of time to do that. So between tennis for one and soccer for the other we pop into Peter Piper Pizza. The girls run around and play while we wait for our pizza. The pizza was good and the girls well behaved even when Rachel tells them it is time to trade in their prize tickets because we have to get to soccer practice. Treasures in hand we load in the car and off to practice.
The field are a bit wet but practice goes on. Nothing cuter than six 4 year olds learning soccer. We had so much fun watching “the little mermaids” run around the field avoiding the really wet spots attempting to kick and stop a soccer ball. The most running they did was when the coach called out “water break”, which seemed like every 10 minutes! At one point a parent had to partner with their “mermaid” as they kicked and stopped the soccer ball. During this drill Norah slipped and fell into one of those really wet spots and ended up with a totally soaked butt. She took it with stride and kept on playing. I did lean over to Tracey and say the only thing more funny would have been if it had been Rachel that fell in the puddle!! I am sure she would not have thought it funny, sorry Rach.
After practice it is home to showers and bedtime for two tired girls. Caitlynn retires to her room early with her puppy. To watch her shows and “snap” her friends. Rachel enjoys some of her new grapefruit vodka, Tracey has a beer and me just some water as we watch the football game. Way to go Cardinals!!!
It was halftime during the game with all 4 of the bigger dogs went tearing toward the front door, barking like crazy. I know Rachel’s mind went immediately to the creepy episode of the guy with the flashlight looking in the garage, as we all look at each other. We take turns yelling to the dogs to stop all the ruckus. Tracey does his perimeter scan and finds nothing, no one, no movements, no sounds, no idea what the heck the dogs were barking at.
We all resume the game and things settle down. Caitlynn comes down shortly there after to take the puppy outside, Tracey goes with her as it is dark, so all the dogs follow. All is well out back. Caitlynn says her goodnights and heads to her room, Rachel heads off to bed and Tracey and I finish the game before heading to bed.
Day 5
Lilah is already at school when I get up and Norah is eating breakfast. I sit and have my morning chat with her as she finishes up her breakfast. Rachel has taken the day off from work today but is at the table hard at work when I get up. She takes a break to finishes helping Norah and takes her to school. We all take showers much earlier today, in fact I had to go up and wake Caitlynn up to get things rolling. Once we are all ready we head out to a local restaurant that Tracey has found via Yelp reviews to have a good country breakfast. Buttermilk Café did not disappoint. We left happy and very full. I even tried fried green tomatoes for the first time. Loved the tomato part not crazy about the breading.
After breakfast Chris takes us to downtown Gruene (pronounced green). We first stop by a place that has been damaged by the river flooding called Bubba’s Big Deck. Chris had discovered it and was telling us about it, that he wanted to buy it and reopen it. Today when Tracey posted our breakfast on Facebook our friend Jimmy commented that next time we needed to try Bubba’s. Chris said, ‘that is the place I was telling you about” So we drove over there and walked around. Took some pictures, sent them to Jimmy. I listened in on a training call for doTerra so I wasn’t in on the conversations they all had while exploring the condemned place along the river, but it was a beautiful spot. From there we went to the cutest artsy crafty store I think I have ever been in. We were greeted with a “hi y’all” when we walked in. I found a gift for a family member for Christmas, and Rachel got a sign she wanted. As Chris was finishing paying for their sign and we were waiting to pay for our gift, the lady behind the counter looks at me and asks “are you a doTerra rep?” Why yes I am! I am carrying my doTerra backpack that I was carrying while we were at convention, as I haven’t had time to switch back to a purse between travels. We strike up a conversation and she shares that she is now signed up with doTerra through her cousin in Illinois. She tells us how it started with a pain from what she thought was pinched nerve and how she used the Deep Blue and loved it. She shared how she is just getting started with using oils and finding it very interesting. Tracey and I talk to her about convention and how she should really try to go. What a fun chat, not to mention her awesome Texas draw when she speaks. We pay for our purchases and put our things in the car. We meander across the street to another fun little shop, and then down the little street of Gruene. The weather is great and we are enjoying our walk and the cute little town.
We stop on our way to pick up Norah from school at a cute kiosk type drive through coffee hut. Chris is raving about a coffee drink he gets called a 6-shooter. Sounds loaded, lol. Tracey and Chris each order one of those, Caitlynn gets a blended coffee, yes coffee drink and I opt for a mango smoothie. When Norah gets in the car and all strapped in her booster seat I give her the rest of my smoothie. “tanks Mommom, mango is my favrit” That is why Mommom is her favorite!! We now head back to the house so Chris can head to work. He will be getting off early tonight so we can all go out to dinner.
Rachel finishes up some work stuff and picks Lilah up from school as Mommom and Papa take a quick nap!! I think we are old! And Tracey definitely did not finish his 6-shooter or he would not be able to nap!
Chris gets off even earlier than planned and arrives back at the house before we are ready to go. He and the nanny, Haley, arrive almost at the same time. Haley goes upstairs and plays with the girls as the rest of us finish getting ready. Rachel comes downstairs all fancied up, she looks very nice J I joke that I didn’t bring any “fancy going to town clothes”. We are just about all ready when we try to order up an Uber, so we can have a drink or two with dinner. Uber in Texas or at least in New Braunfels does not offer as many choices of vehicles as we are used to seeing. There is only one option for a car that will hold 5 and there are none available. I keep refreshing the app in hopes that one will become available, with no luck. Not sure if there are every any, and just when I am about to give up, one shows available and I click request. The app spins and spins and spins and eventually comes back with a sorry there are none available message. After looking at the other cars we decide that we can request 2 smaller cars for the same price. So I request one and Chris requests one. His shows 10 minutes out mine 13. We watch the apps and his shows in the neighborhood while mine still says 10 mins. The first car shows up, a dodge charger, ooo la la, with Terry as the driver. Chris, Rachel and Caitlynn load up and are on their way. About 7 minutes later our Jeep Cherokee shows up with James as the driver. We make small talk, he used to live in Chandler, then most recently Showlow and moved here to be near kids and grandkids. They are headed to Alaska in December for their 30 year anniversary to the same place they got married. Very chatty guy but after all that talking we realize we have barely even left the neighborhood!! James is quick to pull out, sometimes in front of others, but slow to drive. I text Chris that we may never get to the restaurant and he sends a message back that they are already at the restaurant!!
We do eventually make it, and walk back to the restaurant and find the kids at a table overlooking the river. What a great view and atmosphere, Gritsmill. Try it if you are in town. Our waiter, Ryker, was awesome, he was very attentive, super fun, and there when we needed him and not when we didn’t. The drinks were tasty and the food amazing. We are all full and happy at the end for sure. Chris asked if they had a certain beer, and Ryker apologized for not knowing as he just returned from two weeks off. He immediately went to check and brought one back for Chris. We asked Ryker if he went somewhere fun. He shared with us that he is so busy in school studying biology with a minor in chemistry that he hardly has any time off, but he went home to watch his brother play football. He talked about not being able to see his first game, or every game but that it was important enough that he made time to get back and catch two games. He explained that he and his younger brother were very close.
There was just something about Ryker and what he shared that struck a cord with Tracey and I. I will post later about a Christmas tipping tradition we have as a family, but just know that whatever we saw in Ryker made us not wait until Christmas. Ryker was hopefully blessed by the extra tip we left for him with a handwritten note by Tracey “Keep family first” and “Good luck with school”.
As Ryker picked up the check from the table, he thanked all of us, wished up a good night, an enjoyable visit, and walked away. Only to return as we were getting up to leave to give a heartfelt thank you again for an amazing tip. Our hearts left overflowing.
We walked around a little of the town of Gruene again before calling for Uber. This time there was a minivan available and we were all able to ride together. Once home the nanny was relieved and Caitlynn headed to bed, followed shortly by Rachel. Chris and Tracey enjoyed a bourbon that Chris bought special for our trip. All in all a great night and we were off to bed.
Day 6
Well this day had to come, time to go home. Rachel and the girls run out and get breakfast tacos for everyone from as the girls call it Taco Banana. We all take showers, get the dogs fed and make what seems like 100 trips out to the RV to load all our stuff back up. The girls are busy playing and having fun but they do each run downstairs and give hugs and kisses and say their goodbyes. We get all the dogs leashed up and Chris and Rachel walk us out. (they could have just said see ya as we walked out the door, then I could have hustled away before the tears start)
Dogs all loaded, Caitlynn gives hugs, Tracey gives hugs, then I force myself to take a deep breath and step back out of the motorhome. Rachel is first and the saving grace was she was not crying so I held it together. Then Chris hugs me, the longest lingering hug I have had in a very long time. I whisper to him he can let go now, not because I didn’t want others to hear but because if I actually tried to speak I would be crying instantly. Eventually he releases his hug and we say our I love you’s and I hurry up iun the RV, but not before Tracey says “hurry, hurry, get in before you cry”. Thanks honey!
We go through our checklist that we always do before we drive off in the RV. Guess it took a little longer than normal as Chris and Rachel have been standing on the sidewalk waiting for us to pull away and Chris walks around to Tracey’s window to ask if everything is okay. I think we are all good so off we go.
We have pre-checked on location of Love’s along our route again to avoid that long stretch in Texas where there is nothing. We fill up in Comfort Texas and walk the dogs and are off again. Caitlynn and Ki’oni nap most of the morning away. We stop again in Fort Stockton and fill up and walk the dogs. They are all doing pretty well on the traveling, and staying calm.
We run into wind and some rain but nothing much before we stop in Las Cruces New Mexico to fuel up, walk the dogs and have a bite to eat. We continue on to Deming New Mexico and pull off into the Wal-mart to stay for the night. We get set up and a snack and watch the U of A football game. We should have gone to bed LOL not a good night for our Cats.
Day 7
Slept in a bit this morning as it is a shorter drive today. Take the dogs out for a walk, feed the dogs (today Zeus won’t eat) wash our faces brush our teeth throw some clothes on walk the dogs again and we are off.
We arrive home about 12:30pm and by 1:15pm we are totally unloaded and even some of the stuff put away! Yay for us.
We spend the rest of the day, relaxing, watching our Broncos and gradually getting everything put away and laundry started.
We had a wonderful visit, some great time with Caitlynn away from the daily routine, and built some memories we will treasure forever.
Now to turn and ready ourselves for the next adventure!!