Vacation....glad to be back

[Don Halter]

It seems the older I get, the less vacations seem like vacation! Don't get me wrong, I had fun and got to do some things I have never done in my 37 yrs of life....I just feel like I need a vacation from the vacation now!

We left here in Bryan, TX Friday, Dec 15 and headed out west. It was a pretty uneventful drive. In preparation of the whole Las Vegas "thing", I did decide to gamble a bit with the gas gauge vs true amount of gas while heading out across the Arizona desert, though. That provided a bit of adrenaline rush. It snowed on us the second day we were in Boulder City. I got to build a snowman for the first time. I picked a snowball fight with some local teens as well. The rest of the trip was kinda boring....driving back and forth between our strip hotel and the in-laws in Boulder City. Seems like every time I wanted to get out and do something...something else had already been planned for us. Of course having a 2 and 7 yr old with you limits the amount of vegas fun! We did manage to ditch the kids with the in-laws a few times and add to the financial well being of several of the casinos.

The real fun started the second week we were there. We went up to mount Charleston and I got to do some sledding...again, a first for me. Later that afternoon I learned what exactly a snow drift is and why you shouldn't assume there is firm ground underneath one when driving a minivan. The funny thing is, everyone was more than willing to help "the Texan" out of the snow, while virtually ignoring their fellow Navadians.

A couple days later we left for home but were going to stay out at my wife's parent's property out off rt 66 between Kingman and Sligman (sp?). Somewhere along the 4-wheel -drive- only path, I managed to rip a tire off the rim, crater two shocks, dent up the undercarraige and come to rest on a large rock face. I coulda sworn we got the Sierra Nevada 4wd upgrade on our mini-van. No *real* damage was done and after the cussing, it actually provided several days of entertainment. Yes, days....it seems nothing was open due to the holidays. We left the van to the side of the path after getting the neighbor several miles down to help us get it off the rocks. We got to do a few days of fairly primitive camping, shooting and general screwing around. Even getting cold enough to freeze the water inside the cooler, it was till fun. After unloading everything from the van, I was able to drive it back out on one damaged tire, one donut spare and two decent ones. We made it back to Kingman and found a walmart open and got 4 new tires and headed back to Texas.

This was pretty uneventful up until we come into TX. Un eventful except for me getting in an argument witha Super-8 clerk in Deming , NM. We finally found a hotel with vacancy and no attitude about 2 am and managed to get about 6 hours sleep. Back on the road by noon the next day. Two weeks in the Sierras and we get stuck in a snow storm in El Paso, TX. 4 hours just to get through the guadelupoe mountains coming into TX! I won't even bother mentioning my opinion of Texans and Mexicans driving in snow. We did get some real nice pics, though.

I did have a bit of forethought and brought a hacksaw and some trashbags after seeing all the antlered carcasses on the way out, though. Un fortunately, all the ones worth stopping for were in the center of the median. With heavy night traffic, I resisted the urge to go carcass scrounging......and there some really, really nice muledeer racks we passed. We passed a lot still "on the hoof" that night as well. Guess deer season is over in that area!

After 31 hours (normally 24 actual driving hours) in two days, we finally get in around 4 am this morning...and now I'm ready for the vacation to start! I'll be sure and get some pics up from our travels.

Anyone else feel like they need another vacation?

[TexasJack]

Aaahhh, the infamous Vegas Vacation with the Griswalds!!

Glad you made it back in one piece, amigo!

As for Texans driving in snow, I lived in Syracuse NY (motto: "Sun, what sun??") for 3 1/2 miserable years and EVERY year's first couple of snow falls resulted in an amazing string of wrecks! Big thing there was people buying 4-wheel drives. Too bad they didn't stop to consider that the 4WDs have the SAME brakes as the 2WDs! They would pass everyone on the road with their shiny new vehicles, then plow them off the road at the first sharp turn.

In fairness, car wrecks were the only activity in NY that wasn't taxed.

[Moosehead]

Great story Don!

I fully understand why you need a vacation from your vacation!

Thanks goodness you all made it back in one piece (at least the humans).

Cheers!

David

[Ice Tigre]

Sounds like a fantasic trip! just enough happened to not get bored, but with nice rest periods between events.

I love hearing about folks learnig to drive on ice and snow... its always hilarious!

TexasJ. ; I hope that eventualy they learned to not, brake for the corners, the power slide was invented for a reason.

G.

[TexasJack]

I dunno, Ice. It's been my observation that some people just don't learn. (Makes me think of the Far Side cartoon where one of the kids in a classroom raises his hand and says, "My head is full.")

[Don Halter]

Hah..yeah, I made a Griswald comment or two while we were out there. While sledding, I was thinking......ok, start getting scared now...

What if we combined bobsledding with the biathalon? You know, maybe put some snowmen out on the flat ice and try and pick them off with a hand cannon while sledding downhill?

The in-law fun didn't stop when we got back. Our dog died Christmas eve while we were gone. I had requested that the dog be bagged and frozen and we'd take care of it when we got back if she passed while we were gone. But nooooooooooooo...brother in-law #2 decides to come over and bury her. His heart was in the right place...he came over on Christmas in the pouring rain, wrapped her in her favorite blanket...then procedded to dig a 4' x 4' deep hole in the front yard, through one of the few patches of St Augustine grass.

2+ acres.....and he picks the front yard.




P.S. Yes, unfortunately, we expected the dog to pass. She had a lung infection and pneumonia when we left. We were hoping she'd last until we got back. She got into our back room and tore into a bunch of microwave popcorn bags, eating about a dozen of them. Evidentally, she inhaled several kernals of corn into her deep lung region causing damage. A great dog...but not terribly bright...we'll miss her.

[Chris Daigle]

Hey Don, welcome back! Sorry to hear about your dog (and brother in law #2 ). Sounds like you had a very entertaining trip! The best we did was to drive 5 miles up to Fredericksburg where we have a cabin and some land. We were hoping for snow on Christmas day, but all we got was a bunch of rain. Oh well. The dogs really do love it up there. We have two Australian Shepherds and they just think they rule the land out there.

See ya soon bud.
Chris

[Scream?n Snake]

we had an ice storm acouple week ago and was driveing home and hit a couple patch of black ice so dad slow down and the guy behind did so to i was watchin the mirror and all the sudden the light head for the ditch well he got it all under control and picked up speed and pass use needles to say we slowed down more it was intersting ride home sorry to hear about the dog

[TexasJack]

Sorry to hear about the dog.

The good news is that when your bro-in-law dug up the front yard, he didn't find anything buried there! (Oh, look, is that a Teamster's ring?) Hey, in Bryan you never know.

My in-laws took me out for dinner - steak no less! - on my birthday. By chance we got the same waiter that we had when it was the father-in-law's b-day last month. He remembered having to send their steaks back 3 times, so he had the cook burn them REAL well and they were happy. I've learned to eat really fast when out with them so that the waiters don't accidentally seek revenge through my food.