Yeah, I can actually not recommend doing something... (Susie, your situation is a little different than this, although you may end up agreeing with some of this...)
DO NOT DRIVE HALF WAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY IN 23 1/2 HOURS, stay a few days and then DRIVE BACK IN A SIMILAR AMOUNT OF TIME!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, now that that is out of my system, let me explain.
Last Monday, (July 16) my husband's mother called (at 5 AM) to tell us James' Dad had a heart attack. Well, on Wednesday, the 18th, at 5-ish PM we headed out for their house, located between the towns of Searcy and Floyd, Arkansas. We drove straight through. Can I say there is something to be said for driving across Colorado and much of Kansas in the dark? James started the driving process from AF clear to the other side of Denver. I drove from that point to Salina, Kansas. James then drove the rest of the way. We got to his aunt and uncle's house I guess around 5-ish (Central Time) Thursday. We had dinner and basically went to bed (I was trying to finish my book, but my eyes wouldn't stay open and I kept dropping the book--go figure).
Friday, we went into Searcy where his Dad was at the hospital. (Now I have to add a tidbit here about what James said about his mom--"she looks so old!" Of course technically they are his grandparents, so they are old, but I digress). His Dad was in pretty good spirits, but they weren't letting him out. We didn't stay for too long, which bummed James out. We went to Wal-Mart and then back "home." We actually had his other uncle (who had come from Kansas City) drop us back at the other aunt and uncle's house so James could do his nebulizer before we went up to his mom's to help out up there. Well, when we got to Sue and Ricky's (the aunt and uncle's) their power had been shut off. So we got his neb (in the dark) and went to his mom's.
I helped Roy's wife Cherrie clean in the house while James and Roy did stuff in the yard. Cherrie and Roy (James' uncle) were staying at his parent's cause they had brought their dog, and their dog wouldn't have gotten along with Ricky and Sue's dogs (dachshunds--I'll get to them I promise). Well, Cherrie had told us at Wal-Mart she was buying things to clean with because the house was in sad shape and she didn't want Dad coming home to it. When I saw the house, I understood why. We did the best we could with what we had (time, energy, and cleaning supplies). The house is real bad because of the cigarette smoke. I don't know what kind of cigarettes his parents smoke, but they turn EVERYTHING YELLOW and it's sticky and disgusting. James and his uncle were in the yard while his uncle was shooting the .22 rifle he had brought and their mom's .25 handgun. James isn't allowed to shoot, so he didn't.
Dinner that night was BLT sandwiches (we'd had lunch at McD's) and we played dice. After we went back to Sue and Ricky's and watched some TV, played some pool and went to bed.
Saturday, we got up for breakfast (after being harassed) and then James and I went in to town to buy some work gloves. We stopped to see his dad at the hospital too. Then we headed back to his mom's so they could work on clearing out behind the lean-to. I got to separate out some dishes from the China hutch we could bring back--we also brought back the china hutch--good thing we had mom's car. I went out to see how they were doing and Roy hands me the .25 and tells me to shoot a hole just below where he shot in a rusted out 55 gallon drum. I holler to James "do you see what he just gave me?" At which point James says, "he's either brave or stupid." But I went and lined myself up and shot. I didn't hit below his hole, I hit just above and slightly right of where Roy had shot. He teased me saying I didn't say go through my hole I said hit below it. I figure he was lucky I didn't almost kill someone, like the last time I handled a gun.
After we got done doing stuff, James had to clean up (oh another aside here, just before we had gotten back from town, they had seen a copperhead snake and Roy tried to shoot it, he missed three times--it crawled under the lean-to--James was a little freaked out about that--he HATES snakes). We went back to Ricky and Sue's, James showered and we went back into town to see his dad again. We got something quick to eat at the hospital and sat for a long time with his dad. We'd been hoping they were going to let him come home that day but they didn't. Roy, Cherrie and his mom came too. We had a good visit. They left and we stayed a little while longer. We left and went back to his mom's. We visited for a while there and then went to Ricky and Sue's for dinner. Ricky made catfish, I was a little worried because the last time I had catfish it was disgusting. But this was GOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDD!!!! Sue had made hushpuppies too--have I ever mentioned I LOVE HUSHPUPPIES!?! She also made fried green tomatoes--they were tasty too. It was a good dinner despite the fact I could feel my arteries hardening.
We played pool, I tried to download email, and later we sat in the hot tub. Sunday morning, they were dragging us up for breakfast again (we decided they eat entirely TOO MUCH breakfast around there). I will admit though it is nice not having to fix it yourself--or clean-up for that matter.
Anyway, Sunday morning, his Dad got to come home which made James feel a lot better. We left around noon--James cried, I hate to see him cry and you know me--big bawl-baby, I cried cause he was crying. He said his Dad started it though. Told him he had always loved him and he was a wonderful SON. I just wish Cheryl hadn't been so self-centered that she didn't let her folks actually adopt James, she really did a disservice there. Anyway, we left, and took a different route home, stopped to see James' Grandma in Adrian, Missouri (south of Kansas City). Then we drove to Salina and got a room there to sleep (I couldn't keep my eyes open). We got up a little late and headed for Denver, holy cow it took forever....
We were going to meet James' friend Justin for dinner, but we stopped at Bass Pro Shop first. Let me tell you, when we walked in, WAAAAAYYY more impressive than that other outdoor outfitter whose name I'd rather not mention!! We walked around there, got a few things for RJ for his birthday, James got a hat. Then we made our way to the south side of the Denver Metro area through rush hour traffic--it wasn't real pleasant. But we got to Justin's house--talk about a nice house--they have like 4 bathrooms (well there's a half bath on the main floor, a bathroom upstairs a bathroom with a shower and a tub in the main suite and working from a half to a full bath in the basement--Justin is still working on it). A nice huge kitchen, a family room, a living room, there's an overlook from the upstairs to the family room where there's a pool table, there are two spare bedrooms and a partially finished basement. There's even a walk-in closet for the main suite, it's off the other side of the master bathroom. Plus they have a three car garage. Nice, nice house--but like Justin says, why do two people need 3,000 square feet (not counting the basement)? I know Justin has some hobbies, he has mountain bikes and he's restoring his late brother's car. But I saw no evidence of anything Randee (his wife) might do as hobbies. It was a little depressing.
Anyway, we went to dinner with Justin to the Texas Roadhouse. It was good and Justin had a good time flirting with the waitress. We stopped back at Justin's and visited some more, even with Randee (she got home from work late, so we had gone to dinner without her). Then we left and headed for home. I just need to mention here, maybe the scenery is okay in Colorado along I-70, but since we were driving in the dark, it didn't make a huge difference, so I said there is something to be said for driving across the bottom of Wyoming along I-80. It isn't nearly as treacherous as driving I-70--I'd much rather drive 80. Anyway, I drove to Grand Junction and then James drove the rest of the way home. We got home around 6 AM and we slept about 5 hours until mom called to see if we were home. James went to to work at Hart's for 4 hours and I went to teach my cake classes.
My whole point--it's now Friday, we got home early Tuesday morning, I do not recommend trips like this, cause I feel like I am still trying to get over it, UGH!!!
I'm glad we were able to see James' dad and that he could come home from the hospital before we actually left. It was good to see his mom and Ricky, Roy, Sue and Cherrie, too. It was also great seeing Grandma Riley and Justin!
Oh, I have to tell you about Sue and Ricky's dogs, Mickey and Minnie. They're dachshunds, right, well, they rule the roost! Minnie likes to dress up, we have pictures of her in her dress, when I download them, I'll post them. I have pictures of Mickey in a shirt too. They are hilarious, but they are house dogs, and house dogs are not like house cats, if you know what I mean. I told J he couldn't say anything about my housekeeping abilities anymore!
Anyway, there's my non-recommendation--don't travel such long distances in such short amounts of time!
Until next time...
