Whaddya mean we're still in Texas?

So, driving on I-10 through Texas is one long endeavor. We live close to exit 765. To the east, the last Texas exit is 877, so getting out of Texas is an easy enough feat. But, to the west, there’s 765 long miles to go. We scratched out 627 of them today, but it’s hard to believe that you can drive 9 hours and still have two more to go to get out of Texas.

The beginning of today was just like it always is when you’re trying to get out of town.

The kids had spent the night at their grandparents’ house to free us up to get finished and ready to go. We got the car packed at about 1:30 am, at which point I couldn’t take any more and went to sleep. I set my alarm for 6am, so that I could finish some pre-trip letterboxing responsibilities. I got up, made coffee and promptly fell asleep on the couch waiting for it to brew. When the second alarm went off at 7:30, I knew I was in a spot of trouble. Long story short, I prepared 1 ½ swaps that I was trying to complete before I left. That means some folks will be waiting an awfully long time for their cards, but that was all I could manage before my husband threatened to leave without me.

Traffic was bad and it took us a while to get to the grandparents. Then, they made us come in for coffee and pancakes. I took one look at my older son and knew we were in for a long day—his exhaustion was writ all over his face. After the shortest polite stay we headed off. Of course I asked if everyone had been to the restroom. Of course they said yes. Of course, we’d been three exits on the highway before someone needed to go. We found a McDonald’s in Katy, TX, which turned out to be a good choice because by then it was 11am and the oldest was starving. So we loaded up with lunch and then, finally hit the road.

They actually did fairly well, and we made a minimum number of stops before we hit our destination of Van Horn, TX. It’s a town wedged between some hills (I can’t quite call them mountains) relatively picturesque and looking very different than green and flat Houston. I have some photos taken out of the car window (we really didn’t stop) like the one on the left of a West Texas wind farm.

When we arrived, the oldest needed to go straight to sleep. Even though he had a dinner of potato chips and beef jerky, that was the best possible remedy for all that ails him. We’ve got some actual activities planned for tomorrow, so that should be the real start of our vacation. I can’t wait.

I'm trying to blog this trip a little bit more, so hopefully I'll have more info as we go.