It was a long drive from Salt Lake City, Utah to Austin, Texas. We had planned on leaving between 4 and 6 AM on the 29th of December. We worked really hard on the 28th getting the truck and car completely loaded. We finally laid down on the one piece we left out which was the mattress to get some rest. It started snowing and got really windy around midnight. I knew a small storm was suppose to hit but was telling myself it was going to be small and not affect us. Boy was I wrong.
I talked to my mom around 8 AM and we were still hunkered down in our old apartment. It was snowing and sleeting and the wind sounded like a train coming through. Once we started looking up road conditions and weather reports, Josh thought maybe we should wait until the following morning to leave. Ugh! I left to go get us some Micky D's breakfast and talked to my mom again. We figured that the later it got the longer we could get stuck. We needed to get on the road and fast and just try to get as far as we could. This was going to be a 2 day drive. Josh agreed and we finished up and got on our way. luckily a neighbor came out and helped Josh get the trailer on the back of the truck since we were having some issues with it. I then followed him in the car to the Walgreen's where there is a much larger parking lot. We also needed a few supplies for the cab of the truck.
Now this is the funny part. We got the car up on the trailer when I realized we weren't going to be able to get out of the truck because of the sides of the trailer that sit higher to cover the tires. We ended up locking the keys in the car with the ignition turned. We just had to laugh. We figured we would deal with it later. We got on the road and headed out. We got to Nephi, UT (just about 2 hours away from SLC) when Josh got a but frustrated with the car situation. We ended up calling the police department to come unlock the car. We then taped a trash bag over the window since we had to climb out of the window itself. I'm hitting myself for not taking pictures of this!
The weather was crazy! I was scared to death! Here we are driving a 17 foot U-Haul with a full trailer on the back carrying Josh's car. The roads were covered with snow, and ice and it wasn't stopping anytime soon. Most of the roads in Utah weren't too bad. We stopped in one town to get gas for the first time and in the midst of the 90 minutes we were there (the trash bag had come off of the car) we figured out that the side rail on the trailer FOLDS DOWN. Yeah we are stupid and didn't read the instruction manual but Josh was smart and figured it out. It was an adventure with that part. It was once we got back on the road and got into Colorado that I started to really freak out. I have never prayed soo much at one time in my life. My anxiety certainly took over. The roads were getting worse and we were driving through mountains. Our goal was Cortez, CO. We made it there but only after hours of me begging to stop in the next town. Of course, my luck, there was never a hotel in those next towns! We did make it there and stayed in a Super 8 since we got an added discount with the U-Haul. We were both exhausted and stressed. Of course I was coming down off of the anxiety attacks so I was dealing with chest pain and a headache and shaking from the adrenaline. I ended up not sleeping much since Molly was having a hard time. She cried most of the night so I was up with her trying to keep her quiet so Josh could sleep. I was exhausted. the following morning we woke up to a ton of snow that had dropped over night. My mom called to update us with road closures and chain requirements. We didn't have chains! So I called the roadside assistance for U-Haul and was told they don't supply that but we were welcome to purchase those on our own. NO THANKS!!! We again, considered staying in Cortez for another day. But more snow was suppose to hit with freezing temperatures later in the afternoon. We packed up and got on the road again. I tried to keep myself busy and to not pay attention to the road conditions. I was soo glad that we left when we did. We had intentions of leaving early again and we didn't due to the weather. Once we left and got on the road, there were cars everywhere, in the ditches, overturned, etc. It was crazy! The further we got the better the roads were. Now, there were certainly some areas that were still messy and our side of the highway was two lanes but you could have easily mistaken it for 4 with the way cars were staggered. We hit New Mexico and boy was I excited. This was suppose to mean no more snow right?! Wrong! We still had a lot of snow for quite a while and we thought we were ahead of the storm. We got into Albuquerque and you could see the storm off to the side in the canyons. We were getting on I-40, the interstate that would take us straight to the Texas border. But traffic started slowing down. We were forced to exit the interstate from two police officers. They were shutting it down due to severe winter weather conditions. The roads were clear and it wasn't snowing! We were certainly confused. We found an alternate route and headed that way. I wasn't happy. This was not a major highway and it was the severe weather we had been driving in. At this point Josh wanted to drive all the way through to Austin. The roads kept getting worse and you couldn't see right in front of you. Once we stopped for gas we continued on and ended up going the wrong direction. Okay, so turning around with this truck and trailer was not going to happen. Not easily anyways. We finally found a long and wide road to back up onto so we could turn around and not end up in the ditch. Stressful!!!
I was excited when we hit the Texas border and could see the stars. That meant no more clouds and no snow covered roads!!! We saw a sign to Lubbock, TX that said 88 miles. This was the first sign of Josh getting tired. He sang and even made up his own verses of 88 bottle of beer on the wall. No joke dude. With all good intentions of driving straight through, it didn't happen. We stayed in a Radisson Hotel in Lubbock. Josh was excited because of the sleep number beds. I was just tired and wanted to sleep. But yet again, Molly wasn't going to allow that to happen. I stayed up again with her. She's like having an infant!
The next morning I had some work cut out for me. I knew we weren't going to make it to Austin in time to sign our lease before they closed. This was day 3 and this was planned to be a 2 day trip. But when you can only go about 20 miles and hour it simply slows you down. This was New Year's Eve. I called the apartment and they emailed our 41 page lease to me and Josh and I sat and signed or initialed every single page. I then faxed 37 pages back to them. The hotel was soo helpful with this. Unfortunately we both missed a couple so we had to make arrangements to come in and resign all over again. But this allowed him to leave the keys in the apartment for Josh's parents to get and lock up. We arrived in Austin around 6:30PM....we couldn't wait to just sit and relax! The drive was over! Everyone's prayers for our safe travel was certainly appreciated! Blog about the apartment and pics will be up soon!
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