Chicks Are In the Coup

Well, everyone is back home. The original plan called for us to trek to Corsicana on Saturday and everyone would come back to Beaumont except for me and I would drive mother and daddy back to Lubbock on Sunday. But.....the weather would not allow it. There was too much chance of ice and snow on the roads and we decided not to take a chance. So....I came back to Beaumont with everyone else.

As we left Corsicana, we were on FM 3194 tooling along and all of a sudden I noticed the water in the ditch to my right was rising. I then lost sight of the center stripe and I called out to the girls to hang on just as a wall of water came up over the windshield and blinded us. There was water on the road and because it was getting dark, it was hard to see. It scared the living daylights out of me! I hung onto the steering wheel and tried my best to keep the van on the road. All I could think of was, "please stay on the road." The guys were in Jamie and Paul's car behind us and they too hit the wall of water, but fortunately had seen it happen to us and were able to move over some and better prepared for it. For miles, my foot shook and I could not talk. I was really shook up over it. Later, Jamie drove and bless her heart, it rained all the way Conroe. It was strange that at Conroe and just past, it started getting hot in the van. I turned down the heater and again had to turn down the heat. It then dawned on me and I rolled down my window to find it balmy, probably 60 degrees. No need for heat! We had left Corsicana in about 34 degree weather and had passed through the front. It had not reached our area yet. When we arrived at J & P's, it began to rain again. It was an odd chain of events.

On Tuesday, we took Mindy and Trent back to Houston for their flight. Tollie & I then started up 45 to Corsicana where the plan was for Tollie to take me there and then return back to Beaumont. As we got to Conroe and further north, it was raining hard and began to change to ice. By the time we got to Corsicana, our wipers were iced over and it was getting colder. I cried thinking of Tollie driving back through all that in the dark. We talked and talked and finally he decided to go on to Tyler and work there before heading back to Beaumont. It really worked out better as he was able to get all the work done that he needed to and won't have to return to Tyler next week!

We watched the weather all Tuesday night and waited until about 10 am before heading out to Lubbock. We weren't sure we would not have to turn around and come back. But I found a truck not speeding and going a reasonable speed and being careful so I followed him. When he changed lanes, I changed lanes. When he braked, I braked. I was able to go a decent speed and yet able to watch for trouble spots. We arrived in Weatherford and stopped to eat lunch. By this time, the rain, sleet and snow had stopped. We finally had some dry roads and were able to proceed all the way to Lubbock. It was amazing to see the trucks, trailers or motor homes lying on their sides in the middle median of I20. I guess we counted about 9 from Abilene to Sweetwater. I have never known of a time when an accident happened and they just left them there. But they did this time. I guess the weather was too bad to even try to attempt to clear the wreckage. We made Ranger Hill okay and Post Hill okay. Those were my two concerns and both were fine.

When we got to Lubbock, we read in the paper on Thursday morning that a new snow storm was headed that way and I was ready to get on the plane to come home. Made it home fine and let me say I am just road weary today. I find I just want to sleep! My bed and my shower felt great today!!!!

I just talked with my parents and they did get some snow in Lubbock today. It was not as much as they expected or had been predicted. Sometimes, I wonder about these weather men and where they get their information!

Since I am road weary, I think I will close for now and just end with telling you that we had a great visit with my parents, with my children and with my family. Since this visit, my new interest in changes for myself are to be more positive. I even told my kids that I want to work on being more positive! I will explain more on that later!