Our Crazy Weekend

This weekend was quite an adventure for us! The plan was: get off work Friday, drive to Lancaster, meet Tim and Danny at their house, switch to a car load of their stuff, drive it to Arizona, sleep, wake up, help them move, drive back to California. Well, by the time we got to Lancaster, it was raining quite a bit. We decided that the cars would drive to Arizona that night, but the trucks would wait till morning, hoping for better weather. With that decision made, and our bags of snacks and drinks ready, we loaded up into the cars, and headed out for Phoenix.
As we made our way out of town, we quickly realized that Tim's windshield wipers were completely useless. This made driving in pouring rain pretty interesting. We were following Danny and his dad, which helped a lot, since their wipers worked, so they could see the road, and we could at least follow their tail-lights (barely).
This system seemed to be going fine, and we made our way onto *gulp* the 138. I hate the 138, so driving it in the rain wasn't real high on my "things I want to do before I die" list. In fact, I figured there was a good chance it would be the thing I'm doing when I die! Fortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of cars on the road. Unfortunately, about halfway down the 138 stretch, Danny and his dad pulled over all of the sudden. Sure enough, they'd got a flat...they both hopped out of the car and looked at their front tire. Kyle and I watched, thinking, "Oh no..." Danny, already dripping wet from the rain, ran over to our window and motioned for us to roll it down. "We've got a flat!" he shouted over the howling wind. We hadn't realized it was so windy! Kyle got out and went to help change the tire. When he got out of the car, it looked like they were gonna get blown away! They were out there for a good 15-20 minutes, trying to fight the wind, rain, slippery nuts and bolts, and the low visibility, all to change a tire. When Kyle got back in the car, he looked like he'd just jumped in a river...and kept half the river on him! He was completely soaked. His clothes and hair were saturated, and he was dripping everywhere. He shed his outermost clothing and we cranked up the heat. I laid his jacket on the floor and draped his shirt over some heater vents, hoping they would dry faster. After a bit of debating about whether to press on or go back, we decided to keep going, and just take it easy since they were driving on the spare.
For the rest of the drive, we had to go pretty slow. The rain and the spare tire kept us trucking along a bit slower than the semi-trucks:-\ Usually it's about a 5-6 hour drive to Phoenix. It took us 8 hours. We arrived at their new house at 6:30a.m. Now, if you remember, we'd told the trucks to wait until morning to come. It hadn't occured to us that this decision meant that we didn't have the option of unloading a mattress to sleep on, or blankets to sleep under! We arrived to an almost empty house. Sharon and Cheryl had come earlier that day with the babies, and play pens for the babies to sleep in. But that was the extent of the sleeping arrangements. Kyle and I slept in the room that would soon become Hannah's nursery. Her play mat and crib sheets served as our pillows and blankets. Thank you, Hannah;) lol. Needless to say, the floor wasn't all the comfy, but we were exhausted, so falling asleep was no challenge.
Unfortunately, we're used to mattresses, pillows, blankets and warmth, so the night didn't last long. After about three and a half hours, we woke up and couldn't deny that getting up would be more comfortable than staying on the floor for a moment longer. Sharon and Cheryl and the kids were awake, and I had to wonder how the kids had so much energy! I was ready to drop! lol. They had muffins and donuts and mini-bagels out for us to eat for breakfast, which helped in the energy department:) Thanks Sharon and Cheryl!
Soon the trucks, who had left Lancaster at about 4:00 that morning, arrived at the house, and we began unloading. I spent most of the time with the moms, watching the kids and unpacking boxes. My energy failed me a couple of times - keenly timed with the arrival of the big comfy couch - and I ended up falling asleep at least once. But the unloading got accomplished, and some of the unpacking as well. Hopefully we left them with things orderly enough to make the settling in process easier than usual:)
Around 3:30 Saturday afternoon, we piled into Danny's parents' car, and headed for California. Danny's mom drove, his dad rode shotgun, and we squeezed into the back seat. Awhile into the drive, Danny commented, "Wow mom, your car is really spacious!" I glared at him from the 8-inch-wide middle seat. The ride home wasn't too bad though. I stayed awake most of the time, because I don't think the driver should ever be the only one awake. We got back in to Lancaster at about 10:00 that night. Kyle and I hopped back into our car, and headed for my parents' house, where I immediately took advantage of the guest room bed. Ahh, the wonderfulness of a bed! *sleepy smiles*
Honestly, it'll take me awhile to recuperate from this weekend. I'd intended to use the weekend to recover from Christmas, two weddings, and New Years. I would plan on recuperating next weekend, but alas...that will be quite busy too. We'll see how long it takes me to recuperate via every day life...