Too Much Fun!

Our plan this last week was to drive down to Mississippi, get some furniture from my parents’ shed that they’re clearing out, drive home, and be done. It was supposed to be pleasant, a little fun. It wasn’t supposed to be exciting. But it was. Too exciting for our taste. But, we’re home, safe and sound, with furniture.

We left Wisconsin Thursday morning at 7am, an hour later than expected because PWM decided to let us sleep an extra hour, figuring I’d drive be willing to drive later in the night if we decided we wanted to drive late into the night. We’re glad that we did. There was a dusting of snow on the ground when we got up, but the roads weren’t bad when we left. We found out later, though, that the roads had been icy at 6am and an acquaintance of ours had rolled his car that morning. We were glad to skip that.

We got past St. Louis and had hoped to drive further, but the weather was very stormy. The first place that we pulled off looked a bit sketchy, so PWM decided to go on to the next exit. The next place was better, which was good because the storm was so bad that he really couldn’t see to drive anymore. When we stopped under the awning of the hotel, we were told that we might want to come in the lobby even if we didn’t stay the night because the area was under a tornado warning. So, we checked in there for the night and stayed well away from the window in our room. Had we gone one more exit, we probably would have run right into the tornados in Cape Girardeau. We ended up having PopTarts for dinner. Better than running into a tornado!

We planned to get up and out early the next am. But, at 3am, the smoke alarm went off, so we were all very awake. (Apparently, someone decided to smoke in their room.) Well, we decided to get going at 4am. Yay. It turned out to be a good choice.

Around 10am (on Friday, BTW), the Trooper (our vehicle) started running poorly. We were (naively) hoping it was just some bad gas, but were afraid that it wasn’t. And things weren’t getting better, although they weren’t getting worse. We called ahead to my parents who got the name of a good mechanic from my aunt, and then PWM called to see if they could look at the Trooper when we got in to McComb. Since we had been driving since 4 in the blessed am, we would be getting in to McComb before 3pm, so it worked out to have them look at the Trooper. In fact, while I was napping at my aunt’s house late in the afternoon, the mechanic found the part he needed (the only one in Pike County) and replaced it for a reasonable price all that afternoon. Talk about a miracle!

During my Friday nap, PWM and my dad consulted on whether we could get the furniture into a trailer to pull behind the Trooper or whether we’d need a truck. They decided on a truck and found one about an hour’s drive away that they could pick up Saturday morning. Also Friday, my parents took care of some business that they thought would take several more months to wrap up. Overall, we were pleased.

Saturday was packing day. And, it was the reason for having Wild Man along! (Besides, he’s cute!) PWM and Wild Man packed up a living room’s worth of furniture that my parents used to have in their trailer that they gave me along with my aunt’s china cabinet and my grandmother’s buffet and a few other pieces. When my head wasn’t bothering me, I helped my mom sort some stuff – and give away a lot of it!

We got to visit several family members on Saturday and Sunday. That’s always fun. We went out for catfish on Saturday night and I got fried crawfish!! Yay!! I truly miss crawfish!

The only real excitement on the trip home is that Wild Man got to drive a lot. He and I were in the Trooper and I was happy to let him drive. He wasn’t crazy about driving through cities at first, but once he drove through Jackson, MS, he decided it really wasn’t so bad. We didn’t get as far as we’d like on Monday night because I was getting a headache, but we started early yesterday. We got home around 6pm last night. PWM and Wild Man got all the living room furniture out of the truck last night then got some help to empty every thing else this morning. When I got out of bed, PWM and I returned the UHaul truck.

And the trip is now over. Except for the recovery. Which may take a couple of weeks.

I’m off to do some more recovery.