Thursday, June 21, 2012

Where I've been lately (Pt 1)

So it's been awhile since I last posted.  Sorry about that.  I've had some insanity going on in my life, but at least that should make for some interesting blogging (am I right?)

A week or so ago, I flew to LA to help my BFF and mother of my goddaughters drive all the way from California to Texas.  Long story short, they lived in Monterrey Bay, but now her husband is stationed in San Angelo for 6 months or so.  The best plan for A and the girls to live was with her mom in Tyler  - she'd have a babysitter, be closer to his family for grandbaby visits, plus save some $$ while not having to pay rent.  He was shipped out on a Friday, but she had to hang back to get all the paperwork regarding their rental place squared away.  She needed help with the driving because (1) mom + (1) 6 month old baby + (1) wiseass 3 year old + 1500 miles = a recipe for disaster. 

Since the good ol' USA reimburses military families for their moving expenses, they bought my plane ticket and all my meals - all I had to do was show up, drive half the trip, and watch one of the two kiddos while we were in public.

Well, it was SUPPOSED to be that easy.

First, on Wednesday, my post-work flight was scheduled to leave Dallas at 5:35pm.  The plan?  Join another good friend as a guest for some "super awesome" boot camp she does at 5am for a workout (I was going to be sitting for 3 days straight, after all), get to work early, ride the train to my husband's office, and head to the airport about 30-45 mins before my flight (I only had a single carry on bag - this was the best decision I ever made, but more on that later).

After a grueling workout - that involved almost puking and spending at least 25-35 minutes laid out on my mat - I got to work right on time and checked my flight status.  Before 8am that day, it was already delayed for 20 minutes.  First thought?  "Oh shit, that's not good"

Oh, what an underestimation that was!

The departure time stayed firmly placed at 5:55pm when I left my office at 4pm to catch the train.  There was some rolling thunder and cool lightening in the sky, but little rain and the clouds weren't TOO dark.  I shrugged it off and kept on watching Netflix.

When my husband picked me up, the flight had been delayed again...this time until 7:00pm.  We decided to make use of our extra time together and get some dinner.  (PS - if you're ever in Dallas and looking for a greasy burger...Maple&Motor is pretty darn good!). 

Just as we paid and left, the bottom fell out of the sky.

**side note - for my non-Texas/Southern readers.  Our thunderstorms are an amazing natural phenomenon that are a beautiful sight to behold.  The phrase "bottom fell out" refers to when one of those storms becomes a monsoon.  You cannot see more than about 7 feet, if you're lucky, due to the heavy rain**

ANYWAY

So long story short, my flight didn't leave Dallas until 11:30pm and once I got to LAX, I knew more about driving around in LA than my cabbie.  I climbed in bed in LA 24.5 hours after my alarm went off that morning.  And I was up at 7:30am the next morning (9:30am according to my "still on central time" brain...thank God for small miracles!) and we hit the road. 

I'll update later with our road adventures.  Part 2 is too long to tag onto here.