A Long Trip for a 90th Birthday Party

We are still living at the very southern tip of Texas, basking in the warm temperatures as we hear of nor'easterner winter storms slamming another part of the country. But we made a very long trip to the Panhandle of Oklahoma this past weekend for Mark's Mother's 90th birthday. It was almost 90 degrees when we left our campground that afternoon. Less than 100 miles down the road, the temperature had dropped 50 degrees. We felt a little silly in our shorts and short-sleeved shirts as the temperatures dipped into the 40s. We made the 4.5-hour trip to San Antonio, to spend the night at Mark's brother and sister-in-law's house. We were glad to break up our journey into two days.

We were up early the next morning, even though we were getting winter weather reports in the area just north of us. We were supposed to drive through Abilene, Texas, in a couple hours. Our niece living there reported it was "pure ice" and sent pictures of her house shrouded in ice and snow.

Sure enough, the further we drove, the icier it got. We got reports of the icy conditions that had closed down the schools and businesses all around us. It seemed silly to continue when the reports were of even worse road conditions as we would continue north. Mark was in the front seat, but he's not as dedicated to taking pictures out the front wind shield as Denisa. He took just a few pictures of the ice on the plants beside the road before we got to the worst of the roads.

If Denisa would have been in the front seat, she would have caught the ice covering the fences and the ruts in the highway were the ice was forming. After 1.5 hours on the wet roads, we decided it was too dangerous to continue and we had to turn back to try this journey the next day. With temperatures dropping, that water on the road was becoming more icy. But when we called to report this news to Mark's Mother, she sounded so disappointed! So we continued north into the worst of the ice storm.

This made the 12-hour trip to Beaver, Oklahoma, even longer. But we made it through the rain and snow and sleet . . . just like the mail man. We were all stiff from a long day in the car when we arrived. We were joined by all of Mark's siblings and their spouses, six different grandchildren and their spouses, and a slew of great grandchildren. We were all there to honor the 90th birthday of a special woman.

We stayed for three days in the panhandle of Oklahoma, enjoying family time. We were glad that our son Blake and his fiance, Claire, also made a long trip for the birthday party. We all were there to honor the special accomplishment of turning nine decades old. Mark's Father will turn 92 in August, so we recognize that every birthday is monumental. We didn't get a picture of the two of them together this trip. After three days, we turned the vehicle back to the south for another very long trip back to south Texas. We read that this large state of Texas is 801 miles from north to south, and we got to experience each one of those miles. It was a 25-hour round trip in the car before we made it back to the motor home! But we only get to celebrate a monumental birthday like that once. Happy 90th Birthday to one of our most loved blog followers!