On the road...

First of all, a big THANK YOU to all our friends and family who helped us in the last week to get everything squared away with our sanity intact. You have no idea how much your help was appreciated! Toward the end, I ws about ready to just throw in the towel on this whole thing, and your help kept me going. Man, I'm going to miss you all so much!!

Friday was moving day. A and I were on about 4 hours sleep each, but we managed to make it through the day without any major incidents. We had enough errands and final deliveries to make to keep us in town until 1 pm, but we made good time to Albuquerque. The girls traveled so well! Not a single complaint! I was shocked!

The first hour or so into New Mexico was so beautiful, with sculpted cliffs and old buildings along the highway. The closer we got to the city, though, the more frustrating the roads got and the crazier the other drivers became. I drove the last couple of hours and I was ready to be there, so I'm sure that didn't help! We got to our hotel by 8:30 local time, had a late dinner at a Denny's next door, and then went to bed.

In the morning, we went to the ABQ Zoo as soon as they opened and walked around for a couple of hours. If you get the chance to visit that zoo, take it! It was great! Polar bears, seals and sea lions, koala bears--it had a lot of animals you don't usually see in the "smaller" zoos.

We hit the road by 11 am. We had lunch on the side of the road around 1 pm. The weirdness with the NM roads continued and I will adult I was glad to leave when we finally hit TX.

The youngest announced she needed to use the potty, but we were in the middle of nowhere, so A pulled up near some bushes and the youngest and I got out. I tried to get her to join the sisterhood of Roadside Pee-ers, but she wasn't having any of it, so in the end, we got back in the car and she held it for another 10 miles.

What radio stations we could get through TX were country, but they didn't stay tuned in for long. As soon as we got into OK, though, all that was on the radio was station after station of Christian Rock, Christian Easy Listening, or Christian preachers. They don't call it the Bible Belt for nothing, I guess.

There was a really scary looking storm near us for a while and we even had a hail and tornado emergency warning at one point, but it moved slower than we did, so we out ran most of it and just got a bit of rain.

We ate at a Flying J for dinner and the went further up the road a bit for dessert at a Dairy Queen in Clinton, OK. The kids were antsier toward the end of the drive today, but they still did really well. Certainly MUCH better than I expected! We got to the hotel at 10 pm local time. K was asleep quick, but the youngest was punch-drunk for a while. Everyone is snoozing now, and I should be, too, but I am still on AZ time! Thank goodness for wifi!