Day 9, Part 2 ... the adventure continues

 Oh my gosh, y'all.  I wrote my blog post for my day, and I thought I was done.

I was not.  Our day continued. 

Not being sure how far he would feel like driving, we did not have reservations for tonight.  Mark was hoping to make it to Texarkana, but if we needed to stop sooner, we would.  If he felt good enough to keep going, we could.

On we went, whether we felt like it or not.  

Texarkana was booked solid.  We tried to find a hotel room only to be told the whole town was booked. 

What the crap?  What's going on?

Ida.

It's all the Louisiana people escaping a hurricane.

Oh crap.  

I mean, good that they are listening and evacuating, but what are we gonna do?

We actually finally found a room.  In a cheap motel, but with our day being so long and rooms being so scarce, we tried it.  

Nope.  Nope.  Nope.

I will spare y'all any photos, but let's just say NOPE!

Tried to get our money back, but they said, "Nope!"

We left anyway.

And drove to Dallas.

Y'all, Mark drove from north of Chicago to Dallas today.  Look it up on a map.  Feel his pain. 

I tried calling different hotels along the way only to be told they were all booked up solid.

Grrr.

Now if you're thinking our trip sounds wonderfully perfect and we get along so great, today and that cheap hotel was the day and time we somewhat unleashed our frustration out on one another.

He wasn't mad at me.  I wasn't mad at him.  But we were both tired.  Because it had been a long day, but because that long day had been spent almost entirely in the truck.   We were done.  

But here's a good thing to do when you are both frustrated:  find a common enemy.

Y'all I thought Mark was gonna get himself shot right there at that stupid, dirty little convenience store in Mt. Pleasant. 

FYI:  Mt. Pleasant? Not so pleasant.  Pretty trashy too. I was SO EXCITED to cross that state line back into Texas, and it was in Texas that our day turned to shit. 

First the booked up hotels.  Then the cheap, dirty hotel. And now we have to just keep driving and looking and calling so we can find a place to lay our heads.

Oh yeah. Back to Mark.

He decided if he was going to have to keep driving, he needed a fountain drink.  More to crunch on the ice than the actual soda.

So we are both pissy at the situation, but taking it out on each other when we find the thing that unites us back together.

We are pulling into a crappy, dirty convenience store; the only one we see, because, remember, Mt. Pleasant NOT pleasant. When all of a sudden the truck in front of us (also pulling into the store) just stops.  So Mark's big F250 is mostly in the parking lot of this store, with maybe a bit of his bed still hanging out behind us into the street, and this guy in front of us just STOPPED.

Now in his defense, he does not know the kind of evening we have had.

We wait a few seconds, and his reverse lights come on.

Me: He's backing up.  Honk!

Mark:  I am NOT backing up.

I, angrily, hop out of the truck to see what is blocking this other truck's way or why is he not moving 

There is nothing in front of them.  I give them the whole "what they hey" head and arm gesture.

Passenger rolls down her window and informs me that they missed their turn.  Could we back up so they can back out?

I tell her, in a tone almost as pleasant as the town, "He's not backing up into the street!"

She says he just needs to back up a little, and they start coming back.

Mark honks! Loud. And long.

I go back to Mark to relay the message.  Mark is adamant.  He is not backing up into oncoming traffic!

I figure at this point, Mark can handle it.  I hope he doesn't get shot, but hey, he's got his own gun.  He's got this.  I go on into the store hoping for the best.

As I enter the store I hear my husband yell, "THANKS FOR BLOCKING THE FU**ING WAY!!"

When I come out, Mark has his truck waiting for me right at the door, and ol' "we missed our turn and need you to back up" never did back out.  They drove to the gas pumps and filled up.

And after ALL THAT, the stupid, crappy store didn't even have a fountain drink for Mark.  Their ice machine was broken.

At this point though, Mark and I were no longer taking our frustration out on one another.  We were joined in talking bad about the stupid jerk at the crappy, dirty store with no ice, and we were back to enjoying our adventure together.

So... we're not always nice and we're not always Christ like.  Sometimes we are at the end of our rope and our selfish human side makes a GRAND appearance.  And when it does, it is not pretty.

So... after being on the road since 9am on Saturday, we were checked into a nice, clean hotel and able to crawl into bed at 2am on Sunday.

Fun times.

No pictures of all that fun, so enjoy a little Lutheran humor instead: