A Trip South to Get out of the Snow

After almost two weeks of spending time with our son and his family, it's time to make the six-hour drive across Kansas. We are back in the Oklahoma panhandle for a couple days to see our Mothers and check on the motor home. It's more family time, as all of Mark's brothers and sister and spouses were at the ranch at the same time. This actually happens often enough that we didn't think to take any pictures.

Mark will be here in Beaver for the next week. But Denisa is super busy during these two days. We have a complicated schedule during the next month. She is packing for a week-long trip to drive her Mother and her car to South Texas. Then she'll fly from there to Kansas City for another baby-sitting gig. After that, a drive to Oklahoma City for several days will put us in position to leave from that airport on a week-long vacation in the Caribbean. So Denisa is packing for temperatures in the 90s for south Texas in one suitcase, and temperatures in the 40s in Kansas and Oklahoma Cities in another, and bathing suits and shorts for the beach in yet another. What a crazy packing game this is to get everything where it needs to be! Mark's packing is easier since he has one less destination that starts a week later.

Just to prove that it is truly time to head south for the winter, it snowed the night before Denisa and her Mother drove to south Texas.

This is really unusual for Oklahoma to have snow so early in the fall! We were surprised to see that the ground got completely covered. The panhandle of Oklahoma has been plagued by grasshoppers during this hot summer, and they have eaten all the flowers and even the leaves off all the bushes and trees. Only fake flowers are still blooming here, and these silk roses looked like winter had truly hit the Oklahoma panhandle.

The next morning Denisa and her Mother waited until later than usual to leave, giving the roads some time to clear. We still got into snow- and ice-covered roads in the Texas panhandle about an hour down the road. Denisa took this picture as she drove. She missed pictures of the worst roads and heaviest snow pack where snow plows had already made two-foot drifts beside the road. When she was driving through that, she had both hands on the wheel!

Denisa and her Mother made the 13-hour drive down to the tip of Texas in two days. While it was less than 30 degrees when we left the Oklahoma panhandle, it was 90 degrees when we reached the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We went right to work, cleaning Denisa's mother's winter house and unloading the car. During her five-day stay, Denisa completely forgot to take any pictures of the blooming flowers and the palm trees that we love down there. The citrus fruit on the trees are all still very green, but we're looking forward to that harvest when we make the trip south in the motor home later. Most activities don't start in the park for another week, but we did go to card bingo one evening. The first female getting a bingo is the queen for the night, and Denisa has pictorial proof that Mark is married to royalty.

Meanwhile, back in the Oklahoma panhandle, Mark is staying at his Mother's house on the ranch. He had a good time hanging out there, but he didn't take any pictures either. His Mother hates taking photos, so he didn't force her to smile for the camera. So again, we don't have any pictures for the full week.

After five days of Denisa "enduring" temperatures in the 90s and spending some time at the outdoor pool, it was time to fly back north to winter. Denisa flew from south Texas to Kansas City on the same day that Mark drove from Oklahoma to Kansas City. Since we're used to spending all-day-every-day together, this was a long time apart! Now we're happy to be back together in Kansas City--spending time with our oldest son's family again. You can be sure that we won't be forgetting to take pictures now that we're around our granddaughter!