Because we left Virginia on the 6th of January and Paul didn't start work until the 14th, we decided to take a little trip on our way down to Texas. We went to see some of the Church's Historic Sites. So we went a more northern route than what others may think of when traveling from VA to TX.
We were excited to see how many states we could travel through. And of course we wanted to take pictures of each sign, welcoming us into that state.
Disclaimer: Some of these were taken at night, some by the driver when the passenger was asleep, and some came sooner than expected. So they may not be the best quality. But it shows that we were there! : D
Our journey first began in Virginia:
We drove through Maryland for some time, and then we hit a bump on a bridge and we could hear something dragging under our car. So we stopped, Paul looked under and saw that a plastic cover was hanging down and being dragged. We needed to get that fixed, but it was Sunday and we were only near small towns. We drove around trying to find an auto repair store open--none of them were. So Paul went to a gas station and bought some duct tape. We went to a nearby park so he could try to duct tape it up. We drop around a bit to see if that would hold--nope. We then tried one more store--nope, it too was closed. The closest thing to that was Hardee's. So into that parking lot we went, and under the car Paul went.
(I guess technically we were in West Virginia at this point because that's where the closest towns were.)
While Paul was looking under the car, he got a phone call from our friend Cody. What a blessing!! Cody knows cars--especially Honda's! They had gotten home from Church and they felt like they wanted to call us. Truly it was an answer to our prayers! Paul didn't know what to do, but Cody told him that that plastic piece wasn't necessary and he could just pull it off. It took some time and a lot of hard work--it had kind of fallen before and Paul had tied it back up. So first with pliers and then a very dull pair of scissors, Paul was finally able to get the plastic piece off! (I should've taken a picture, now that I write this...but I didn't.) This is not how we wanted our trip to go, but knowing that it wasn't necessary and no longer having it to be a problem again was a comfort. From then on, we didn't have any problems with the car!
Glenn did not mind this break in our travels. He saw the snow and wanted to play in it. So he did! We made up a little game--I would draw a happy face or sad face in the snow and he would wipe it away and I would either laugh or cry, depending on which one. He loved it and it passed the time.
(One last sad face for the delay in our travels--I should've taken a picture of a happy face, indicating that we got things all worked out.)
We took some pictures of a roadway project that FHWA had worked on in Maryland. It was interesting seeing the ice that had formed on the side.
So, despite this little detour, we got far on our first day. After being in Maryland, we drove through the corner of Pennsylvania.
It was definitely Amish country--there were stores and billboards with Amish furniture and food stuff. If we had had more time--and if it wasn't Sunday--we would've gone in to see and maybe get something to eat.
After about 60 or 70 miles in Pennsylvania, we went through the very top of West Virginia.
While there, we stopped to put gas in the car and to eat our dinner. We had spent our last night in VA at the Disner's house. Nora had been so kind as to pack us a few things and we made sandwiches so we could just eat and go and not have to buy anything else on Sunday.
Then we went into Ohio. I was driving at this time--Paul had fallen asleep in the passenger seat and we were fast approaching Ohio. I tried taking a picture, but I couldn't really spend a lot of time trying to get a good one--and I missed the sign. I drove all the way to Columbus and we got there around 10pm. We got to our hotel--after making the mistake of trying to stay at a dirty, smokey motel--and slept!
The next morning we had breakfast and then hit the road. We had stayed in the eastern part of Columbus, so in the morning we got to see the skyline.
We also passed through Dayton, Ohio. We really liked the overpass artwork. Simple, but very nice.
We also saw these cute snowmen as we drove through the country.
As we were approaching Indiana, they had a sign--probably for people like us who like to take pictures of each state they go through.
And then we were in Indiana.
We stopped there to have lunch at White Castle. It was our first time eating there--and I'd say it was okay. I don't know if I would go out of my way to go there again, but it was okay.
Glenn and I had fun there anyway.
Here is a skyline picture of Indianapolis.
And then we made our way into Illinois.
We took some pictures of the countryside there.
At one point, Glenn looked at the sky and said, "Look Mom and Dad! I see a T!" He saw the letter T in the sky.
That evening we drove just across the Mississippi River into Iowa.
We stayed for three nights at Keokuk--just across the river near Nauvoo.
We took a couple days looking at Historic Nauvoo (I'll put all that in another post), and the surrounding area.
After Iowa and Illinois, we made our way into Missouri. We saw a few historic sites there as well and spent the night in Independence.
We missed a turn somewhere the next morning and so we didn't make it into Kansas. :(
So we traveled all the way through Missouri and then into Oklahoma.
No pictures taken in Oklahoma--I just didn't think about it.
Then we finally made our way into Texas!
(They tricked us by having the sign on the left side of the road--so I wasn't exactly prepared and I was sitting in the back on the right--so that's why it's really blurry.)
That night we made our way to the Dallas area. Our good friends the Burger family lived there and had invited us to have dinner with them and spend the night. It was so fun being with them! So fun that I didn't take any pictures--oops! We not only had dinner with them, but breakfast and lunch the next day too. We ordered pizza and listened to the rain and thunderstorm! There were some pretty loud thunderclaps. We waited until the storm died down before we made our way down to Austin.
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on our last day of travel. We got to Austin on Saturday January 12th.
And these were just some photos I took of Glenn while we traveled--so they are from different days.
And a video of Glenn. He liked when I sat back with him. He had someone to play with and talk to better. He did really well though on the trip. He entertained himself pretty well and seemed to enjoy the trip. He liked seeing different places and things and having Tootsie-Rolls to snack on! : D
No accidents and no screaming. It was great!
We sure were happy that we made it safe and sound!
(And we went through 11 states too--pretty cool!)
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