As usual, I am way behind in posting! I could miss the opportunity to document our Christmas Trip - Lampoon's Style! It was definitely a Christmas to remember!!!
On December 23rd, we headed out on our driving trek to spend the holiday with Mike's parents in Canyon, TX. It's only a 5-6 hour drive so we opted to do that instead of fly. That was mistake No.1! As we started driving the roads and weather were clear but as we got further into New Mexico, we started to see slush on the road. Then about three hours from Mike's parents house we hit a complete winter whiteout. We couldn't even see as far as the car in front of us. It was horrifying. At one point we noticed several cars pulled over at a gas station on the side of the road and I told Mike to pull over and let this pass. Pass? Yeah right! I went in to this small gas station in the village of Des Moines, NM, to find out that the roads were closing on both sides of us. There was an 86 mile stretch of highway that was completely shut down due to 60 mile winds and snow blowing everywhere. Naively, I thought it might pass in a few hours but the Sheriff told us it would be at least 24 hours. Now, keep in mind, this little village had 143 residents and NOTHING in it. They were closing the gas station which dubbed as the village restaurant. While I was in the gas station I started talking to a gentleman that is a contract courier and drives these roads frequently. He had a connection to the one and only motel in the town. Now, when I say motel - I mean one of those scary, rundown, roadside dumps that you drive past and say you will never stay in! Since we had the girls, we really needed somewhere to be. We couldn't be stuck in a car overnight! To get into this motel, you needed to call the owner and they would come let you in. This kind stranger had a permanent room there for times that he was travelling and needed a place to land. He kindly offered to give up his room to us and stay with someone in the village so we would have somewhere to land. He warned me it was beyond dirty there. My mind didn't comprehend that until we actually got there!
The M&M Motel was just down the road so we began the journey back. There were cars stuck in snowdrifts all over and accidents. We got there and this older (and rather toothless) man was in the motel room we came to claim. He said he was making the bed and could use my help. He then proceeded to tell me that his wife left him because he was to old and now this place was his. He clearly couldn't keep it up. It was a three bedroom motel from hell! Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre kind of place! This room hadn't been vacuumed for a very, very long time. There were mouse droppings, bugs and food all over the floor. The bathroom had no towels, no toilet paper and a toilet that I will just leave to your imagination. There was NO heat in this room. Keep in mind it was below five outside with 60 mile winds! he gave us a small heater that didn't really blow heat but provided a tiny bit of warmth. He also gave me a broom to push out the snow because no vacuum cleaner existed at Motel Messy! The TV didn't work either! My brain can barely comprehend the horror of this room but at the same time the kindness of the man who helped us find somewhere to stay. The room cost $35. I wasn't given a key, he didn't take my credit card, didn't even ask my name or tell me when I needed to leave! We spent 26 hours in that room - which we learned in the night was very close to the train also. The first time we heard it I was convinced it was going to hit us, it was that close! Ella didn't have a crib so we couldn't get her to sleep all night. Ava was so cold I had to lay on top of her to keep her from freezing during that night. When we 'woke up' in the morning, there was a thick sheet of ice INSIDE the window! We woke up to a clear morning but the roads were still closed. We sat anxiously and waited for things to clear. We also met our motel neighbors and got to know them. Mike walked over the country store and got us breakfast. Forgot to mention, we spend 26 hours eating baby crackers and barely getting any water.
We finally drove down to the country gas station/restaurant to wait things out in a nicer environment. We bought a young man breakfast that was travelling to Alabama as he was changing Army Stations. He must have been 21 years old or so. He had gotten in an accident in the storm and was just waiting for his tire to be repaired to finish the journey. Keep in mind, it was now Christmas Eve! The Sheriff gave us permission to start driving, as long as we were slow, prior to the roads opening. They were shut at the next town and ticketing everyone that came across the pass. He (the SHERIFF) taught us how to bypass that and avoid a ticket, which we did. We were 45 miles to the next town and we headed out! As we started to get close to the town, the car start shaking uncontrollably. I knew something was wrong. There were 3 mechanics in that town and we went to all 3. Finally we got to the last at 11:40 and they were about to close. We asked them to at least help us and look for the problem. As we opened the hood of the car, there were baseball size pieces of ice all over that we had to pull out. So, I neglected to mention that I might have run the car into a snow bank back in Des Moines and had to get a tow truck from a neighboring town to come down and tow us out. I was the only one in the car at the time and the drift was so high I couldn't get my door open and had to climb to the other side of the car and jump out into a snow bank. I ran about three minutes in the wind to our not-so-cozy motel and got a horrible wind burn on my face! Anyways, when I ran the car into the snow bank, I broke the fan off into huge chunks. It dinged the radiator but luckily didn't break it! They removed the fan and we went on our way. We were only about 2 hours from Canyon but at this point the family was already celebrating. We finally got to our motel, did a deep clean shower and got to Mike's parents just in time for dinner around 6 p.m.
We were planning on staying a few days but Christmas Morning we woke up and Mike saw on the forecast that another horrible storm was sweeping the nation. So, we went over to Mike's parents, opened stockings and presents and headed home. We didn't even get to eat! We took some snacks for the roads and this time drove home through Oklahoma. We didn't even stop to think that nowhere would be open for us to eat on the drive home, so once again - we were starving! There were hardly even gas stations open and those that were had no hot food. We hit another storm about 3 hours outside of Denver and it was bad but they had the snowplows going and we went slow and made it home at midnight on Christmas! Every part of our trip was an adventure and Mike got barely any time with his family.
Shortly after our journey, all of us got sick and it's now January 25th and it's still cycling through. We've had flu, strep throat, sinus infections, a tummy virus twice! It probably all stems from something we picked up in that frightening motel!
So, as you can see - that was quite the Christmas Vacation! I don't even think Chevy Chase could conjure that stuff up! Never. Again!
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