Over the last 20+ years, all of our vacation time was used up visiting family. We were the ones who moved 1200 miles away. I get the trade-off. But we never prioritized an immediate family vacation.
We tried this year. DH and I would drive to San Antonio. GK would cook Thanksgiving dinner. Then the three of us would travel together to Las Vegas,
Uncle Sam had other ideas.
GK passed his noncom boards and was immediately sent to a leadership course held at a different base. His class was a month-long and started on November 15. Yep, the week before DH and I were to head to his apartment. No, it was not something he could get out of.
Luckily, GK was sent to Fort Cavazos which was only slightly out of our way. We did have Thanksgiving dinner with him, and I've never had a better meal at IHOP. And we generously tipped the poor waitress who handled all the tables in our half of the restaurant, all service people with their families who had traveled to the fort to spend an hour or two with their loved ones.
Sadly, DH and I continued on to Las Vegas by ourselves. As we left the Hill Country for the West Texas desert, I warned DH to watch out for tumbleweeds blowing across the highway. I need to watch what I say.
About five minutes later down I-10, we were following another white sedan in the left lane as we passed an SUV. Sure enough, a tumbling tumbleweed rolled north, heading for the asphalt. DH tapped the brake, but the car in front of us had no place to go. They hit the tumbleweed dead on.
It exploded.
DH and I laughed as dry, brittle branches rained down. No harm was done, and a few miles later, another tumbleweed rolled across the interstate well ahead of us.
But now, I know what happens when you hit a tumbleweed at eighty miles an hour. As I roll along in life, I'll try not to spin and dance across a freeway and get hit.
