Vacation Wrap Up Part I

We got home from our vacation on Thursday evening. Our original plan was to stop in Omaha for three days on our way home from Fargo. I had scheduled to meet with three fantastic women for various things (lunch, coffee, etc.) while I was in town. I was really looking forward to each and every meet up, but it wasn't meant to be. Unfortunately our host family started throwing up the night before we were set to arrive and hadn't improved by the time we spoke to them on Wednesday morning while we were headed south. After discussing it at length, we decided to make an adjustment in our route and head on home. As much as I would have loved to have seen everyone, the odds of getting sick ourselves was too much of a risk. I had visions of the three of us hanging out at various rest stops until we were well enough to move on to the next available spot. Not so much interested in the whole "Throwing up across America!" tour of 2011.

Anyway, we decided to try and make it to Colorado Springs on the first day. It was a looooooong day of driving. We didn't even eat at restaurants like we usually do, we just ordered and ate in the car. We were trying to avoid going on I-29 because we knew it was flooded further down the so Mister C found what he thought was a workable route. Then, we hit a spot in South Dakota where there had been flooding.

We turned on the two lane and I pointed out the sign that said "No Cars - Trucks Only". Mister C said "It'll be fine" and continued driving. We came around the corner and there was a guy fishing. From the road. Again, there was a sign warning that cars were not allowed. Again, Mister C said "It'll be fine, don't worry" and continued driving. We saw two workers adjusting the guard wires and I asked Mister C to at least check with them. So he did. He rolled down my window and asked how deep it was at the deepest point. The reply?

"It's two and a half inches deep on the center line (which we could make)." So long as no cars made us move to "our" side of the road where it was substantially deeper we should be okay. They also added that we would be fine so long as no trucks went by "like a bat out of hell like they usually do". Well, that's comforting. I thought that perhaps Mister C might decide to turn around. I thought wrong.

Mister C decided that turning around and driving an hour out of our way was too much hassle. We were going through. As a final heads up, just as we were starting down the road a trucker coming from the opposite side slowed to a stop and signaled for us to stop as well. He leaned out his window and said "You don't want to go down there, it's much deeper at the other end. You wouldn't want your engine to flood, better turn around now." Mister C politely thanked him. And then continued on our path to destruction. Now, obviously, I am typing this currently so I didn't get swept downstream, but it was more than a little unnerving to say the least.

Lest you think I'm exaggerating how scary it was...



Why yes, that is water across the entire road we're driving on. In our Honda Civic. You'll have to forgive the poor quality of the photo, I had put my camera into the trunk at this point thinking I was done with it. I thought about getting it out, but figured if we got swept away I didn't really want the evening news to open with a shot of me standing calf-deep in water, getting my camera out of the trunk so I could take photos of the danger we were heading into. Kind of the "Oh, look at those cute bear cubs over there, let me grab my camera and see how close I can get!" mentality that I try to avoid most days.

So anyway, we made it through and made it to Colorado Springs in one piece. Oh yeah, we also hit torrential downpours in Denver, followed by a hail storm once we got into Colorado Springs itself. Good times. But, we got a good night's sleep and had a great breakfast in the morning before heading back out on the open road. We got in to Phoenix by dinner time, picked up food at Chipotle and enjoyed the peace and relative quiet of our first night back home.

The next day consisted of laying about the place and doing laundry. And petting the animals which had obviously all been neglected for the previous two weeks*. Today was more of the same with yard work thrown in for good measure. We'll see what tomorrow brings but I certainly could go for another day of nothing before I pick up with the painting again on Monday.


*I'm just kidding Mamoo, I know you pet them all frequently and thoroughly and that they are all just liars.