The day of the trip came up faster than I expected. All of a sudden it was time to pack and get ready to go and I wasn't prepared at all. I had only managed to get the laundry and the dishes done that day and that was only a few things of many that I'd hoped to accomplish. But we gathered our things, packed up, and went to bed.
The following day, Friday, Brendan went off to work like he always did while I finished cleaning up and gathering what we needed for the trip. I was finally able to get out the door around 10am, with Jesse, a suitcase, and a bag of his things in tow.
My first stop was in Pasadena to drop Jesse off at the PetsHotel at Petsmart. It was the closest one to our house but now that I think on it I should have taken him to the one that was further, but was still on my way to San Antonio. But this branch of the hotel in particular was great and they took awesome care of Jesse while we were gone. Traffic wasn't bad as it was an uncommon time of day for people to be out driving and I had buckled the dog in the passenger's seat using a safety harness so he would stay on his side of the car and not jump in my lap. So the trip was uneventful and I dropped him off with relative ease.
Next I made a gas stop, just to top off my tank and pick up a bottle of water since I had forgotten mine on the way out the door. Then I headed back out, hoping to soon hit I-10 and drive straight on to San Antonio. But Sam Houston Tollway happened.
Anyone living in Houston and not owning an EZ tag knows exactly how this next part of the story feels. I have the GPS on my phone set to avoid tolls. There was a section of Sam Houston Tollway that was toll free and so my GPS told me to get on there. Unfortunately, I didn't look to see that it was 2 miles away and took the closest ramp onto the tollway. And then a freak out ensued. Most of the time you have to have an EZ tag to drive on this road or...well you're just in trouble with the police. Luckily for me, this one had a booth for exact change. And so I panicked, rummaging around for the $1.75 I needed to keep going. I finally managed to find it and get through but not after my fight or flight response had significantly kicked in. And then I made error number two. I didn't know it at the time but I had now entered the toll free portion of the tollway and just needed to keep going straight to get the I-10 exit. Because I still had all that adrenaline rushing, I immediately exited, thus missing the exit I needed.
But thank goodness for rerouting on GPS. I finally made it onto I-10 and then settled in for the 180 or so miles I had to stay on the road. It was then that I started noticing a problem with my car. I own a 2000 Ford Taurus I call Thor (my previous vehicle, a pick up, I had called Iron Man, so I just stuck with the Avengers theme) that has been a real trooper. He stuck with me through my last semester and bit of the one before plus drove me all the way to Texas. But, as all Fords do, he likes to give me issues. I had hit a curb at maybe around 50mph the day before when I was going to the college for an information session. I was worried at the time but when I got out and checked the car and nothing was visibly wrong, I let it go. But while I was driving I-10, the car started pulling like a hard wind was hitting it and shaking some. I called my "adoptive brother" Chris and he told it was probably just out of alignment and to rotate my tires when I got a chance to make sure. So I kept on without another thought.
I reached San Antonio around 2:30 and then went into the airport to find Jaimie. She tackled me with a long hug and then we headed back out to the car and off to McDonalds to pick up some lunch. We sat and talked for a bit about various things-her job as a CNA at a hospice care facility, her job in a pharmacy, Syria, my CNA class that I'm trying to get into, and why people use babies on commercials that have nothing to do with babies. Then we headed to the Riverfront Mall for some shopping while we waited for Luke to get off of work. The mall, however, didn't hold much appeal, so we instead headed to the base where we decided we would just wait for Luke. It was about this time that I noticed a scraping sound in the back of my car, but blew it off as something just rubbing against my tire. We picked up Luke, after getting lost on base, and then headed to the hotel. It was small and in a shady looking area of town, but it turned out to be just fine and the "neighbors" weren't even a problem. The worst that came of it was a couple of barking dogs. We settled into the hotel, ordered pizza, and waited for Brendan.
Brendan got there around 9 or so and then we all decided to go take a walk down on the Riverwalk. We walked by the Alamo first, which is smaller than you would think, and explored the outside for a few minutes. Then we headed down to the Riverwalk. It was overly crowded, which I should have expected for a Friday night, but for some reason, I didn't. It was lined with restaurants and shops, all of which were teeming with people celebrating the beginning of the weekend. The weather was humid and hot, though not as hot as it would've been if the sun were still up. The stars were out and the sounds of the city teemed around us as we walked alongside the river. We got tired and decided to head back to the hotel. Jaimie and Luke stayed in Luke's room for a while and Brendan and I stayed in the other, watched a little TV before falling into the exhausted sleep that always comes from a long day of traveling. |
| Corpus Christi |
The following day we went to church on base with Luke and then headed out to another mall to join some Navy buddies of his for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Since we got there first, we hit an American Eagle, Jaimie just to look and me to find something that wouldn't hurt the burn on my shoulders quite as bad as the dress I was currently wearing. The pager called for our table so the boys left and Jaimie and I finished up and then joined them. I left them all at the table after introductions and changed before sitting down to lunch. After lunch we shopped around some more and then headed back to the hotel. It was then that we decided to take my car into a Firestone to have the scraping sound checked. At first they said it would have to wait till morning but when I told them I had to drive back to Houston in the morning, the manager came out and checked the car himself. When he came back he said my brakes had something wrong with them and he would have them inspected. So we dropped off Thor and went back to the hotel.
Jaimie helped Luke study while Brendan and I watched football and waited for news on my car. Then the call came. I had busted a drum and my car was completely out of commission. To make matters worse, all the parts stores had closed and they wouldn't be able to fix it until the following day. So Brendan made the decision to take the following day off from work and we both stayed the night. The original plan was for Brendan to go back to Houston so he could make it to work the next day and I would drive home after dropping Jaimie off at the airport in the morning. But the car troubles changed that.
We dropped Luke off at the base about half an hour after he was due back and then all just collapsed back at the hotel. We watched a couple of TV shows together before all going off to bed.
The following morning Jaimie and I got up early and I used Brendan's vehicle to drive to the airport while letting him sleep. We said our goodbyes and then went separate ways. Back at the hotel, Brendan and I got breakfast, watched a bit of NCIS, then packed up and checked out. My car was supposed to be ready by noon so we went out to eat at Paloma Blanca while we waited (they have very good enchiladas). Finally the call came and we picked up my car, got back on I-10 and finally headed home to Houston. I made my detour into Pasadena, picked up the dog, and then got stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home. Anyone whose ever driven on I-45 or I-610 knows exactly how this one goes. But when I finally made it back to the apartment, I had never been so happy to see the place that I called home in my life. There truly is no place like home.
