Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Christmas travels

Well, we fled the wrath of God storm that was barreling down on the poor, defenseless Ohio Valley yesterday afternoon.

I first got wind of the coming storm on Monday evening. My family was planning to drive down to Georgia early Thursday morning, arrive at Tegan's parent's cabin in the North Georgia mountains Thursday afternoon and then drive to south Georgia (Tifton) on Christmas eve morn'.

But the storm changed those plans.

We decided to move our Ohio departure date to Wednesday morning. Getting an extra day off from work wasn't a big deal. But as we looked at the storm forecasts and the predictions of 4-6 (or more!) inches of snow in Ohio and any combination of constant rain, or freezing rain, or ice as we headed through Kentucky and Tennessee . . . well, we decided to get while the gettin' was good.

So, while I tied up loose ends at work--and said tearful, rushed goodbyes to my office homies--Tegan was busy at home packing. This was Tuesday morning; we had done no packing AT ALL at this point.

(Let me just say that it was a good thing we decided to have Santa come visit Monday evening.)

So, by 3 pm on Tuesday afternoon, Tegan had packed, loaded the car, picked up the girls from daycare, and swung by the office to get me. We hit the road and about ten minutes down the Interstate, Ariel said that "she had to go potty."

AAARGH!

So, we swung into an exit, found a McDonalds and then realized that the entire restaurant was undergoing renovation--only the drive through was operating. The hotel next door had no public bathroom.

Anyway, it took us about 45 minutes to get from the office to the southern outskirts of town. From there is was relatively smooth sailing. Tegan had loaded the car with all manner of toys, books, art supplies to try and distract the girls, and for the most part they behaved very well.

We stopped about 6 pm for dinner in Dry Ridge, KY. One of my uncles lives there, but I wasn't going to feel bad about not letting him know we were around because I knew he was currently at him place down in Florida for the holiday. But no sooner did we sit down than my cousin, L. appear at our table. We had a nice chat and I explained how we were fleeing the brewing storm.

Dinner took much longer than necessary and so, by 7:30 we had not progressed very far. But we pressed on south and crossed into Tennessee and headed to Knoxville. We passed some spots of light rains going down I-75 and I worried that we might have to stop if the rain started freezing, but no worries. The girls started getting drowsy and eventually fell asleep.

We left the Interstate at south of Knoxville and struck out east, winding our way through the Ocoee river valley (site of whitewater rafting in the 1996 Olympics and also site of some near drowning moments for me at a family reunion a few years back--good times!) By now the night was full on us--about 11 or 11:30 and thank goodness the kids were asleep because we were winding through the darkness following the curves of the river, going up and down mountains. If the kids had been awake they would have thrown up for sure.

I wish it had been lighter, because it was a really pretty scene. An almost full moon was illuminating through the trees and I could see the rapids from the river rocks as we drove beside the river bank.

We finally hit north Georgia and after a bit more winding around we arrived at Tegan's parents house in Blue Ridge. By now it was around 1:30 in the morning.

We got inside, got on our pajamas and tried to get the kids to sleep. Tegan had to struggle with Ruth a bit and she didn't get much sleep, but Ariel slept with me and we did all right.

So, we made it. We are tired and still face about 5 hours more driving south to get to Tifton and don't know if we'll do it today or just wait for tomorrow morning, but we know that Ohio is currently getting dumped with many inches of snow.

So stay warm Ohio friends! I hope the office got closed and you can relax. Hello Georgia family, we are almost there!

5 comments:

flipper said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
David said...

Hmmm. That is mysterious. I don't know how the comment got deleted. Rest assured Flipper that I did read it before it mysteriously disappeared.

It was full of praise for me and a bit of editing for one badly written sentence. (Really the exact stuff that I expect and love from Flipper.)

Seriously though, I am using some else's laptop and and I guess I mistakenly hit the wrong button of my finger slipped the wrong direction. I really am sorry about the mistake.

And don't worry. I post more blog entries as we travel. After all, what's a blog for anyway?

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on "road-blogging" and on getting away before the storm descended. It is now raining ice and snow here. And we have to head north into the maelstrom tomorrow morning. Perhaps I'll post a comment from the "true north strong and free" this weekend. Have a great Christmas!
--Dr. A

PS--No one believes a word of your explanation as to why flipper was deleted...

David said...

I expected such disbelief, since I am such an accomplished computer/internet user.

But really, it was the unfamiliar laptop that did it.

And besides, I have a plan in place to restore the comment, but it will have to wait until I return.

David said...

As promised, the original comment, posted by Flipper, is now being restored in its full glory.

I am sorry for the mistake and hope you will understand.

*******

Hey burb--reread the following sentence from your post:

"One of my uncles lives there, but I wasn't going to feel bad about not letting him know we were around because I knew he was currently at him place down in Florida for the holiday."

I sense the spirit of Hopkin Green in this sentence! Long live Hopkin!

Seriously, there is so much I admire here. Most of all, HOW DID YOU POSSIBLY FIND TIME TO POST A BLOG ENTRY IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL OF THIS??? I haven't posted in MY blog for over two weeks, and I'm not hauling two small children across the country! You are truly a great and amazing person. Also a jerk, since you didn't say goodbye to me yesterday, and apparently, you CRIED when saying goodbye to others. Who's crying now big man, huh? (That would be me.)

Glad to see you're getting good use out of that laptop. Hope the rest of your trip goes well. We miss you!