Keith and I had to make a quick trip to Austin and back this weekend. His dad, a World War II veteran, has been selected to go on the Honor Flight, which takes WWII vets to Washington DC to show them their memorial, along with other military memorials. It is quite an honor and is a wonderful thing for these men who have given so much to this country. Keith is getting to go with his 93 year old dad as his guardian so off to Austin we go for a Saturday morning orientation.

Austin, Texas is about five hours away and any trip in the car for that long gives my mind the opportunity to wonder, think, ponder and observe. So here are some of my observations.

Observation #1: The traffic from Fort Worth to Austin is TERRIBLE. In addition to the traffic, there always seems to be road construction. So you are whipping along at 75 mph, then you are slowed to 60, then to 70 then to 65 then to 75. Kind of like a roller coaster. Then there are the concrete barriers on both sides of the road you must maneuver through.   When traveling through those areas on the highway with concrete barriers, it always seems that right next to you is an 18 wheeler. As you work your way through, praying to get through, you are wondering, is there really enough room between these two concrete barriers for me and this 18 wheeler? Apparently there is, but I’m holding my breath each time.

Observation #2: Bluebonnets are beautiful! From about Ft Worth all the way to Austin and all around are the most beautiful bluebonnets. It is that time of year when they are blooming and they were standing tall and were spectacular. They always make me smile when I see them. Some of them were so thick and covered so much area that it looked like a beautiful blue blanket. The site of them made me want to go and lay down in the middle of them. Still smiling thinking about them.

Observation #3: Need for Speed. Keith and I usually trade off driving when we go longer distances. So it’s my turn and we are just south of Ft Worth heading down the 75 mph stretch of I-35 which is awesome. I can drive 75 and not feel guilty. As I’m driving along, a Texas highway patrolman passes me doing about 80. I noted to the Keith that Mr. Patrolman was not doing the speed limit. Ha Ha Ha, are they ever? We moved on for another few minutes when I noticed something in my rearview mirror. It was a car coming very fast up my right side doing WAY MORE than 75. I said to Keith, get ready for what’s about to come up on your right. At just that moment a little Mercedes doing about 90-95 zoomed pasted us and before we could say anything there was a Jaguar chasing it. It literally looked like they were seeing who could get to Austin first. They were zipping in and out of cars like a NASCAR race. About that time it dawned on me, if they aren’t careful, they are going to whip right around Mr. Highway Patrol Man, who I could still see ahead of me. Pretty soon around the bend we saw flashing lights and I thought, could it be???? The answer is nope, it was some Ford F150. I don’t know what happened to Mr. Mercedes and Mr. Jaguar, but I’m sure they got to Austin before we did and apparently with no speeding ticket.

Observation #4: What is taking so long? We finally arrived at our hotel in Austin and we were pooped. It’s late, we were tired and we really need to find a restroom. But we need to get checked in. I have never seen two people working the check in counter at a hotel move any slower. Really it’s true. I thought for a moment we might have been on Candid Camera or 20/20. They would start to work on getting us checked in and then they would stop and chat, or someone would come by with a question. All the time, I could see the lines forming between Keith’s brow, which I know means, “I am about to lose my patience.” I offered to stand there while the two hotel staff members chit chatted so he could find the restroom, but he insisted it shouldn’t take much longer. Well it did take longer and again, I offered. This time my normally very patient husband, furrowed his brow even further and said, with a slightly elevated and stern voice, “I’m sure it won’t take much longer, will it?” The clerk popped to attention and said, “No sir, not much longer”.

Observation #5: Getting out of your routine. I have heard it said that it is good to shake up your routine sometimes. Get out of your comfort zone. Live a little. Well all this may be good and I agree to a point. But, if you are a caffeine junky like I am and CANNOT function in the morning unless you have sat quietly for 30 minutes and sipped your hot cup of coffee, then I wouldn’t suggest changing your routine. Changed mine yesterday, paid for it all day…..Waiting a couple of hours to get that first cup of coffee, not good.

Observation #6: Sure are a bunch of old people here. Let me tell you, my 90 year old mother-in-law is a hoot and sharp as a tack. While we were sitting through the orientation ceremony Saturday morning for the Honor Flight for 120 World War II veterans, she leaned over and said, “There sure are a bunch of old people here.” You think?   She is a doll.

Observation #7: Siri knows Austin. Keith decided he needed new running shoes and he selected several stores in Austin that specialized in running shoes for us to visit. Neither of us knew how to get around in Austin so we put the address in our IPhone and Siri mapped us out the route we needed to take to visit store #1, which was the store Keith really wanted to shop in. Siri took us right into the trendy section of Austin along the river with apartments, condos, restaurants, running trails, and dog parks. Everywhere we looked people had on workout clothes and were walking or running. There were lots of people walking dogs and I loved it when we passed a dog park full of people and dogs. It was so much fun to see this in a community. We finally made it to Keith’s running shoe store and guess what, it was closed for inventory. Siri, to the rescue. On to store #2.

Observation #8: Furniture shopping, the good and the bad. Keith and I will need a few new furniture items when our new home is finished. We have looked at furniture in Ardmore, have made two trips to Mathis Bros in OKC and several other places in OKC. I find something I like, he’s not crazy about it. He finds something he likes, I’m not crazy about it. It has been oddly stressful. So we are driving back to Oklahoma and on the north end of Austin on I-35 there is an Ashley Furniture Home Store. We decided to walk through, what could it hurt. OMG. They had everything we needed AND Keith and I were in agreement. Had Hell just frozen over, what was happening?   Well I’ll tell you what was happening, we were 5 hours away from home and this store doesn’t deliver that far. Our hearts sunk, until we found out that there are at least three of these stores in the Dallas area, which probably will deliver. Our quest for furniture continues….

Observation #9: I need a little down time. Got up this fabulous Sunday morning to rain and an enormous amount of laundry to be done, along with my deceased father’s tax return looming over my head and reading assignments for my EFM class. But I knew that before I could tackle anything, COFFEE WAS NEEDED. In fact, I had 2 big cups of coffee while I sat motionless in the recliner with both dogs in my lap watching a couple of items recorded on the DVR. Still not much energy, so Keith went off to church without me. But I have slowly been moving forward and have accomplished several things, it has been very quiet and my two adorable dogs have provided me with many opportunities to scratch their bellies and rub their necks. Truly therapeutic and just what I have needed.

Observation #10. I need another day off, but work will be calling tomorrow. Back to the craziness.