Vacation From Hell

I will start off this blog first by saying that I am very grateful that we had the extra funds to rent a car.....otherwise this could have been a much worse scenario than what it was. It's amazing how a comfortable newer vehicle can make such a difference in a 11 hour trip.

Day One:

We made pretty good time and reached Mobile around 8 p.m. We didn't do much after we got there but make us a good stiff drink and socialize with Charlie.....just like old times.

Day Two:

I was looking forward to seeing my son so after his class at noon we met up with Lucas at one of our favorite mexican food restaurants in Mobile. We also had Toby's grandmother with us. I guess it's true that things do change, because I remember the food tasting alot better when I lived in Mobile. Things change and people change. It was nice to socialize anyway.

Toby had to go to work at 3 p.m. so we met up with some old homeschool friends at the park. We had a great time catching up. It felt like I had never been gone in some ways during my stay.

I was curious to the way I would feel about my hometown after being gone from it for almost a year. I wondered if I would harbor any "old feelings" for it or miss it in any sort of way. Honestly, the way I felt was the same exact way I felt when I first moved away......Ready to get the hell out of there A.S.A.P.! :-)

Day Three:

Summer had not gone to bed until late the night before and woke up pretty early Sat. morning. She sometimes has a "weird" stomach in the mornings if she doesn't eat a good breakfast so I really wasn't too concerned when she complained of a stomach ache. Toby had to go to work at the shop again so I had him take me to Lucas's so we could ride with Lucas to visit my dad out Kali Oka Road.

Summer was still not acting well so Lucas and I gave her an orange to eat and she seemed to feel a little better. We left out to my dad's in Luke's car. My son's car is more like a hot rod than a car. No air conditioning and a souped up engine and it's a standard so you get jerked alot. The ride to my dad's was the ride from hell. My daughter is a real trooper and a lot stronger than I am. She looked like she was going to hurl the whole ride.

When we finally got to my dad's I was so focused on what was wrong with Summer I couldn't even enjoy my dad, grandmother, and brother and his family. I felt so sorry for Summer because I knew she wanted to have fun too and she was trying to blow her sickness off. She kept trying to go play but always ended up laying on the couch. I also was focused on making sure that she made it to the bathroom if she were to get sick. What was suppose to be a nice family reunion ended up being no fun at all for Summer and I.

When we finally decided to leave in the "race car" again I brought a plastic bag just in case of any "accidents". I could tell the ride home was torture for her and once we got to Lucas's apartment and she got out of the car, she let it all out all over Lucas's breezeway. What FUN! Later on she told me she had to swallow it back down several times on the ride home because she didn't want her brother to be mad at her for throwing up in his car. Poor baby, she didn't know I had the bag as a backup.

I was hoping the worst was over. The hurricane evacuation had already started and I knew we needed to get out of there but on the flip side I knew Summer was sick and needed rest.

We ended up staying Sat. night. and I was hoping the rest Summer got was going to be enough to tide her over for the very long ride back to Mobile. Without going into any gross details I'll tell you that taking care of a vomiting kid on an 11 hour car ride with detours all across 2 states was probably the worst mom experience I have ever had. I kept thinking that I would wake up any minute and it all would be one big nightmare. Thank God for plastic bags.

I know the last 200 miles of our trip back home Toby drove 100 miles an hour. I didn't stop him because death of all three of us at the time did not seem all that bad compared to what we had endured for the past couple of days. :-)

I have never been so glad to see Manor Texas nor my home. It was like coming into heaven from out of hell. It's bad enough to be sick, but being sick away from home is the worst. I felt so sorry for Summer having to endure all of that. Thank God her diareah didn't come until we got home. That would have only added to the nightmare in the car.

I will say that a trip to Alabama is not on my list of things to do ever again. I will have to make arrangements for my son to come here and see me from this day forward.

I didn't get as many pics as I would have liked considering the circumstances, but here are a few:

Summer and her great grandmother on Toby's side:



Summer and my dad in his new "toy":



Summer with her great grandmother on my side: