~whew~ What a trip! Yesterday was possibly the worst weather day we’ve ever had to fight. It was just nasty all day long. Things were already pretty slick in Amarillo before we got out of town. (We heard there was an 80 car pile-up there after we left.) We got a late start because… well, because we are TIRED! We got up and went down to the courtyard area and got our free breakfast. Eggs cooked to order, hash browns, sausage, toast and juice. Not bad! Especially for a $31 ratty motel! It’s much better in the daylight. ;-)

We had to stop at the Post Office so James could mail the car title and info back to Aunt Sue in Texas because she’s got a buyer for it. Got onto the interstate and discovered that James had forgotten to send the keys with the paperwork! Ha! I love it when he does things like that!!! :-) Oh well—we’ll have to worry with that later. Then we drove. And drove. And drove and drove and drove. Very slowly. The roads were slick all day long and we were in blizzard type conditions, but not good blizzard. There was never any accumulation on the ground, just whirling, swirling snow and whiteout conditions and very, very slippery roads. We kept praying and trudging on and FINALLY made it out of Oklahoma (that state felt every bit as big as Texas yesterday!) and into Missouri. Almost immediately things cleared up, the roads were just wet, not icy, and the snow stopped. We could actually SEE! Wa-Hoo! We stopped in Joplin for dinner at Steak and Shake. ~aaaahhhh~ What a great husband I have! Frisco Melt with extra Frisco sauce to dip my fries in (then Sam and Katie’s leftover fries, too) and an orange freeze. So it turned into a good day after all! ;-)

We filled up the tank and hit the road again, but only made it to Springfield because we were so worn out. So we stayed at a really nice Motel 6 there. It even had a bathtub (they usually only have a shower), which was a good thing since Hershey Dog needed a bath. Got the dog scrubbed up, dried off, and combed out, let the kids watch the non-scary parts of the Wizard of Oz and a few minutes of the Ewoks fighting the stormtroopers (again, gotta go non-scary! Ha!) before hitting the hay.

This morning we were on the road by about 8:00 and have had a much, much better day. It’s been nice and clear and dry, but because of our bad weather yesterday there is no way we’ll be able to make it to James’ folks’ house tonight. Unless we get a marvelous surge of energy that sees us through ‘til about 2:00am! So we’ll get as close as we can tonight, then ease on in tomorrow. It’s so strange to travel on a Sunday and not be in Church. It just doesn’t FEEL like Sunday, you know?! I read through two Evening Lights this afternoon so that helps a little, but it’s just not the same! It’s about 4:00 now and we’re driving through Indianapolis. Another 5 or 6 hours should get us within 4 more hours of the Horne home for tomorrow. We’ll see what happens. Until next time…

~Becki~

P.S.—Did I say this has been a good traveling day? HA! I take it back. Almost immediately after I wrote the above post we came to a dead stop on Interstate 70 just outside of Indianapolis. About 25 miles out, I think. We waited for over two hours before finally giving up and turning around and heading back a few miles to Greenfield. We grabbed a bite at KFC and filled up with gas again and now we’re trying to take Highway 40 east to the Ohio border. Us and about 1,000 other people who have given up on the Interstate, too! It is 8:46 right now. I think it was about 5:15 when we got held up. That’s quite a delay! So now we’re just hoping to make it to James’ folks’ house before Christmas Day!!! Still, we have sooooo much to be thankful for. All we know about the accident on I-70 is that at least 3 people were killed. We knew it had to be pretty severe to have traffic held up for so long, but I had been praying that somehow there wouldn’t be any fatalities. We saw cop cars galore heading to the accident and James says that at least three helicopters came and went while we were waiting. How awful to be in an accident anytime, but especially at this time of year. There are so many people on the roads headed home for the holidays. God is so good to keep His hand on us and I’m thankful that although late, our family is all safe and sound. I’ve been praying for those in the accident and their families. How awful. Wow—from where we are on Highway 40 we can see I-70 running parallel to us about 4 miles north. It is still completely clogged up with taillights as far as the eye can see. That must’ve been some accident! Please be in prayer for the survivors and the families involved. They will all need special grace from God. Perhaps souls can be saved through all of this tragedy.

P.P.S.—Made it to Zanesville, Ohio. It’s nearly 1:00am now. Would have driven on in to Wheeling, WV but the kids were shot. We’re checked into our hotel with “free high speed Internet,” but you have to go sit in the hallway next to the lobby in order to access it, so says the man at the front desk in a very thick foreign accent. At least I think that's what he said. No big deal. I’m going to bed anyway! I’ll post this when we get to Pennsylvania—hopefully sometime tomorrow!!!