So another Blog Paws wrapped up on Saturday night and Snotface Critter and my three furkids had a slumber party. The next morning dawned beautiful 
Stephine came to collect Snotface and I finished packing up and made sure nothing was left behind. Which can be an adventure in itself when it comes to finding the stash holes.
Checked out and got on the road and proceeded to miss my exit luckily I realized it fairly quickly and got back on track even though it put me behind my own schedule by fifteen minutes.
Then I hit road construction at the border of Nevada and Arizona thirteen miles of slow one lane traffic. Filled up at the last gas station before entering Utah and started up the mountain only to come to a full stop. 
Yep it went from sunny to this in a matter of minutes. We sat at this one spot for 20 minutes before inching along for two miles before coming to a stop again. It took me three hours of stop and go traffic to get out of Utah. For the most part it was due to three traffic accidents two of which involved semis.
But it didn’t end there this is what I saw well into the night as I hit Denver at 1 am. Yes that is snow. 
and this is the last photo as the battery in the camera died at this point.
So now I am really behind schedule and for some reason I got it into my head I was on I 70 headed up to I 80 and couldn’t figure out why it was taking so long to get out of Colorado. It wasn’t until the sun came up and I stopped to read the map correctly. I was on 70 that wasn’t the problem.
The problem was I was headed to Kansas. At least I was headed East. But in mapping it out I found that it would add extra time on to my trip that I couldn’t afford so I found a route that got me back on 80 and would only be an hour out of the way. Not an issue right? Yeah right. Found the exit all right and stopped to fill up and made yep you guessed it a wrong turn. I ended up on a dirt road. Oh and it had started to rain…HARD sliding in the mud was not a fun thing in a car.
Got turned around and went the right way but couldn’t seem to find the place to turn because on my map it said one thing and in this tiny town the street said something else. Finally I get headed the right way. What I had thought was a highway turned out to be back roads with nothing but fields on either side.
Rain that went from a soft pitter patter to torrential downpours in a matter of seconds didn’t help my nerves and when the winds started I was completely freaked out as the radio would fade in and out and I would hear bits and pieces about potential tornados happening but I had no idea where they were or I was at that point. What should have been an hour turned into two but I was never so happy to see a state boarder as I was then. I stopped to used the restroom at the local truck stop and heard about the tornado that crossed 70 two miles down from where I had started.
It flipped two semis and killed one of the drivers. Someone was watching out for me as I should have been in that spot if I had stayed on 70.
Finally I am on 80 in Nebraska making up some time as the speed limits work to my advantage. Only stops at this point are to pee and check on the furkids who have it made. Sleeping quarters, food and water without having to get up out of bed and a litter box for their needs. I am so lucky I have great little travelers.
Darkness fell as I hit Iowa I made it to the half way point before having to take a nap for about an hour before continuing on trying to make up time since the car was suppose to be back on Tuesday. That wasn’t going to happen so I had roomie call and let them know I was going to be a day late. I made Illinois about 3am and was only going to take an hour nap so I wouldn’t hit Chicago at rush hour.
Nope that nap lasted 3 hours and I hit Chicago at rush hour in the pouring rain. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad…until the flashing lights came on in my rearview mirror. I pulled over and waited for the trooper to come up to the window. I jumped when he knocked on my passenger side window.
He was nice about telling me why he had pulled me over it seems the turn signal didn’t come on in the back when it had dinged in the car. He checked to make sure it wasn’t a blown bulb thankfully it wasn’t . it seems there is a slight delay in the signal dinging in the car and acctually blinking in the back.
He asked where I was headed I told him home as I had just come from a pet conference in Las Vegas and then it seemed like he wanted to talk. I told him I just wanted to get home as this had been one of the worst road trips I had in a very long time. He sent us on our way with just a warning.
Made it through Chicago and into Indiana where the sun decided to come out and beat down on us. I never did figure out how the air/heat worked in that car so the windows stayed down as we raced across Indiana if you can call coming to complete stop midway due to construction on the already confusing off/on ramp system. We stopped at one of the last plazas on the toll road in Indiana as the kids were tired of riding and wanted to stretch their legs which was fine by me as I am sure my rear was beginning to adhere to the seat. So we took an hour break there.
Once back on the road the construction signs had the road split into two lanes one went down and under and around before meeting back up with the lane I had stayed in only to have my lane turn into two and the sign said to stay in our lanes and both would lead to our exit. I should have known better at this point in the trip. My lane continued past the jersey barriers as the lane I should have been in turned left. Found the exit that turned us around and got back on the route headed into Ohio. I knew once we hit Cleveland it would only be about 4 hours to get home.
We rolled into the driveway at 5pm on Tuesday. Unloaded the car got the furkids out of the carrier and in to their room and this is what Manny did after he wardanced around for ten minutes 
washed the car and finally got to sleep in my own bed. Got up the next morning early since the car had to be back at 9am and I had to be at work by 7:30 as my co worker started her vacation that day. Rushed to get there and back only to find that I had my days mixed up and I got to go home and pass out for the rest of the day.
Moral: Don’t trust the weatherman, print out both going to and from an event maps, Give yourself an extra day even if you don’t need it. Never pay at the gas pump with your credit card as they put a hold on the amount twice until they get paid.
Have a Chittering Good Day,
Jo
No comments:
Post a Comment