My Best T – Part 2

 Good morning, FFFs,

It's a beautiful fall morning only more on the warm side than the crisp and cool side. Right now it's around 56º and is supposed to be in the upper 70s. The cold isn't supposed to return until the middle of next week. So I guess I'll enjoy short sleeves and sunshine along with the lovely fall leaves. What kind of weather are you all having?

This week was–different. Saturday night I was so tired that I had gone to bed early after taking a 30 minute nap accidentally, and then slept for 11 hours thanks to the time change and the fact that it was Sunday. I taught Children's Church, and then had a short play practice.

Monday was another crazy busy day at the office. We were all really tired and worn out, but we kept smiling and voting people.

Tuesday was one long day at the polls. I was up by 4:30. We opened the polls at 6:00 and had a line that didn't stop until after 9:00. And then we had people constantly in the room voting, and more lines during the day until 6:00 PM. Then we finally had an empty room. We had more people voting, but it was the slowest time of the day. Closed the polls at 7, packed up, and then took the ballots to the County Courthouse.

Wednesday I stayed home! I just did whatever I felt like doing without making a list of things to work on. It was really nice. And I took a nap. 

Yesterday I actually made a list. I didn't do it all, but I did get some things done. And I wrote! I actually wrote over a thousand words! I haven't done that since Sept. 8. Pretty exciting, huh?

And today I'm going to clean the house. And work on other things. I hope you enjoy this next part of the story.

My Best Thanksgiving

Part 2

    Lee’s alarm was going off when I woke up. It was four-thirty. I didn’t really want to get up since I’d gone to bed so late, but knowing I could sleep in the van later, I managed to crawl out of bed, blinking as Lee switched on the light. The three of us boys shared a room, but Jason is such a heavy sleeper that we could turn lights on and even talk and he wouldn’t wake up until around seven each morning.
    After we’d dressed and had our quiet time with our Bibles, Lee and I headed downstairs to help Dad load the trailer. He wasn’t up.
    “Come on, Ray,” Lee whispered, jerking his head towards the door, “we can pack it.”
    “Just us?” I asked. I wasn’t sure we could do it. Not after looking at all the piles of things we had to pack.
    Lee didn’t have any doubts. “I usually pack most of it anyway,” he told me. “Dad just brings things out.”
    I guess I hadn’t ever thought about that fact. It was rather fun helping pack the trailer. It was dark out still, so we had to turn the porch light on and set up one of our large flashlights so Lee could see the back of the trailer.
    We were about half way done when Mom came out on the porch with her sweater on. “Wow, you guys sure work quickly,” she exclaimed. “Dad was so tired this morning that he slept through his alarm.”
    “That’s okay,” I said. “Is he still sleeping?”
    Mom nodded. “I was going to wake him but thought I’d see how things were going first. I heard you guys come down.”
    “Ray,” Lee called from inside the trailer, “where’s the next things?” Coming to the door he looked out. “Oh, good morning, Mom. Dad still sleeping?”
    Again, Mom nodded.
    “Let him sleep. He has to drive today.”

    By the time Dad woke up some thirty minutes later, we had the trailer all loaded and were only waiting on the last things that went in the van. Mom and the older girls had breakfast packed and I couldn’t wait to eat. They made these great boxes for each person, rather like a carry-out meal from McDonalds only better, with hot cinnamon-raisin biscuits, tater-tots, dried apples and, for those of us who wanted it, juice. I always loved eating in the car on road trips.
    Amazingly, we left the house ten minutes early, but we had to go around the block because Emmy had forgotten her bag for the van.
    At last we were on the road. This time for real. Dad said that if we’d forgotten anything else, we’d just have to do without it. At that Mom looked back at us and asked, “Does everyone have shoes and socks on?”
    We all did. I remember one trip where I had gone out to the van in bare feet and it wasn’t until we stopped at a gas station that we realized that I had no shoes. Dad wasn’t too happy about stopping at a store to buy shoes for me. Ever since then I’ve been extra careful to wear shoes when we leave on trips.

    Since we lived in west Texas and had to drive all the way to the middle of Virginia, it made for a long trip. But I enjoyed road trips. I still do. I like watching the scenery change, looking for license plates (one time we saw all fifty states, except Rhode Island, and five Canadian provinces.), listening to books on tape or better yet, listening to Lee read books aloud. He’s a great reader.
    But I must get back to the story.
    I had been sleeping for a little while after breakfast when I was awakened by hearing talk about a detour and a storm. Sleepily I opened my eyes and sat up. There was no sign of construction but I could see a dark sky up ahead. Now, I’ve always been fascinated by storms so I decided to stay awake and watch. Glancing around I noticed that Lee, Carol and Mom were sleeping. The younger three were in the very back and were busy with whatever they had brought. Ginger, sitting behind the driver’s seat with me, was leaning forward and talking with Dad.
    “That doesn’t look like a regular storm, Dad,” she was saying.
    “You’re right, it looks different,” Dad agreed.
    I leaned around so I could see out the front better too. For a while we were quiet, watching the dark mass before us. It was growing closer. Suddenly a gust of wind shook the van.
    “Wow!” I exclaimed. “That wind is strong.”
    Dad was slowing the van down somewhat and didn’t reply.
    “There’s another detour sign, Dad,” Ginger pointed out. We must have turned onto a detour before I was fully awake.
    The wind was blowing stronger now and it was growing darker. The others woke up and Dad slowed even more. With our bigger van and our trailer, the wind really shook it when we went too fast. We began to drive into the dark cloud. But it was strange. There was no rain, no thunder or lightning, but still it was dark and things were blowing.
    “What’s going on, Dad?” I asked, watching some tumble weeds race across the road before us. The lights of oncoming traffic appeared like two eerily glowing eyes approaching from the midst of a mystic vapor.
    “I think it’s a dust storm,” Dad answered, making sure the vents on the van were closed.
    “Well, there hasn’t been much rain for a while,” Lee put in, leaning forward.
    “Imagine trying to walk through it!” Carol exclaimed. “Or living in a log house right now.” She always thought of things like that. Perhaps it came from reading so much. I like to read too, but I never think of those things.

How was your week?

Have you ever driven in a dust storm?

Do you enjoy eating in the vehicle during road trips?