I am getting too old for this crap. In order to be able to spend more time with my brother-in-law, John, we drove all night to get from south Texas to Iowa... 5 states, over 1,300 miles... in 24 hours.
We used to do stuff like this in our younger years. I'm talking like 40 years ago. These days, when traveling in comfort in the motorhome, we generally do 250 to 300 miles a day... then, settle in early and kick back. This week, we are working with a weather related "deadline." We're picking up the motorhome from Winnebago on Monday, plan to spend the day checking out all the stuff that was done in this extensive repair, then haul southward on Tuesday... to get outta Iowa before the next winter front moves in.
As it is, we saw lows of 14º in the past 24 hours. We haven't seen that kind of temperature since we lived in South Dakota many years ago. Don't want to see it again. That said, we ran into a bit of rain, a couple snow flurries, but mostly c-c-c-cold.
We left our home in the Tropical Tip around 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Our plan was to roll through the worst of the potential traffic crush in the corridor between San Antonio and Fort Worth during the night. For the most part, that worked out. We didn't plan for the truck in the lane to the right of us hitting something in the road and blowing apart a wheel! We dodged flying metal and sparks... and came through unscathed. Unfortunately for about a half dozen other vehicles, including a UPS truck, they blew out tires and suffered other damage. This happened between New Branufels and Buda... no way to safely stop to render help in that traffic. Seconds after I was able to unpucker my ass from the seat, we are already several car lengths beyond the fray.
The other heart-in-throat moment happened this morning when passing a semi... the driver must have fallen asleep (this was before sunrise), and the truck swerved into our lane. I saw it coming and pulled hard to the right, onto a fairly wide shoulder with an imposing concrete barrier separating it from oncoming traffic. The driver abruptly swerved back into his lane and picked up speed. I had no intention of trying to finish the pass I started.
All that aside, it was mostly the rigors of trying to stay awake... we took shifts driving... and checking on each other. Shut-eye didn't happen, but we did stop regularly; for gas, pottying, and feeling that cold blast of air to help keep you awake.
We will likely "pay for this" in never catching up on lost sleep, but the Equinox did an admirable job; comfortable, secure feeling and handling, and power on tap with that 2.0 with the turbo and 9 speeds.
We pulled into John's driveway just before 2:00 this afternoon. He got the opportunity to meet Rufus. Speaking of Rufus: this is his first ever long car trip. I probably haven't mentioned this before, but he is a good boy. He did fine with new situation. Although, he seems real happy to be in John's house.
A few photos of the excursion...
No trek across Texas is complete without a stop at a Buc-ee's (or two)...
Even in the middle of the night, traffic can come to a stand-still in that corridor...
I had my doubts when Joan suggested we do this in one day. No way would I have tried this if running solo.
We did get a short nap in before supper this evening. And to spread the love around, Rufus spent some time on John's lap. "No, John - you cannot have Rufus."
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Oh, I forgot my favorite part of the trip: we stopped for a sandwich at Chick-fil-A. No, that's not my favorite part. When paying for the order, the girl at the window exclaimed: "Is that a cat? Oh, my god, he's SO cute!" (Rufus was sitting on the console between us.)
I said, "His name is Rufus and he's a pretty social boy."
"Oh, hi Rufus! You are so handsome!"
Within about 10 seconds, there were 5 Chick-fil-A employees squeezing in around the window to see the cute cat. Yes, Rufus likes the attention. Especially from the girls. Besides being a good boy, he is a chick magnet. ;-)
4 comments:
Wow. I wouldn't do a 24-hour drive unless there was a meteor going to hit the earth. And we can't let our cat, Chip, loose in the car. Chip thinks he is the great black hunter (he is a black cat) and he would try to escape when the door opens at a rest stop. He is good about coming back, but only when he is ready. When a kitten that used to take hours, now at 8 years old it is about 15 minutes. So Chip travels in a crate. I'm glad you averted the perils of the drive.
Thanks, Jeff. Truly, we had no idea how Ruf would do with a 24 hour drive. He really deserves that reputation for being "a good boy." I think he handled it better than the humans in the car. A good night's sleep for us last night, but it will take a while for those body rhythms to get back to normal. Rufus, on the other hand, is enjoying the house and looking at all the new stuff. This was the first opportunity for John (my brother-in-law) to meet Ruf... he told me that Rufus is welcome to stay as long as he wants... he did not offer that same invitation to me. ;-)
A chick magnet at Chik-fil-A. Poetic that, and what a Good Boy. I'm glad that he travels well. The console looks a lot like his pedestal between front seats in the RV.
Glad you made it through the night. I'm too old to do that anymore myself, even when swapping drivers. Eight hours on the road is plenty for one day, and ten hours is the absolute max.
Yeah, Earl, this isn't our usual way of traveling, and this won't be the start of a new way. Looking ahead at the weather when we plan to leave Winnebago, we may try to make more miles because of winter weather that will be chasing up behind us. We'll take it day by day... but, there won't be any marathons like this last one. Hope we don't have to stay put until spring to get home.
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