Last night, I had to take the dog to the kennel for the Thanksgiving break. The only kennel I could find with an opening was in Gatesville. The owner misquoted the travel time as 30-45 minutes. So I figured with decent traffic and such, it might take me an hour to an hour an a half to get the dog to the kennel and get home.
MMmmm - can we say NOT!!! First, the road she suggested was the short cut took me through winding hilly road with signs like, "Military Area: Explosives, Use road at own risk." Yes, that was very comforting when out in the middle of nowhere. If I hadn't been using my phone as a GPS, I would have called someone to let them know where to look for my body. Then the road I was on was closed and required a detour, which took me so far off course that I kept thinking I had to be lost. Then the next little orange arrow would show up and tell me to keep on keepin' on. Then the road was so steep in places that I literally could not see if the road turned until halfway down the hill. I spent half the trip feeling like I was on a roller coaster, which was extra fun with a 50 lb. dog who couldn't anticipate the dips and would fall off the back seat into my seat scaring the bejeezus out of both of us.
Then I saw it, a cow crossing sign. "Ah, I remember someone telling me to be careful because if you hit a cow, you have to pay for it," I thought, but pretty much didn't expect to see any. Until they were these GIGANTIC longhorns just grazing a foot or two from my car as I was doing the 50 MPH recommended by the signs. YIKES! Talk about scary. I have seen what hitting a deer can do, I can't even imagine the wreckage an animal at least 2 1/2 times the weight and skeletal height could do at 50 or so MPH. And it wasn't just one or two. I spent the next thirty minutes of this supposed short cut holding my breath as I passed small herds.
The darker it got, the scarier the twisty cow-ridden road got. Then the mapquest failed in its attempt to get me anywhere near my target destination. I spent an extra twenty minutes driving around in circles. Then had to fill out paperwork and debate running to an ATM for the deposit they forgot to ask me for in the first place.
I took the "long" way home, which was negligibly different and significantly easier and less cow populated. Not getting home until 7:30 with the baby unfed, me unfed, boarding passes to print, suitcases and carry-ons to pack and a baby who started screaming so fiercely that I thought she might hurt herself until she knocked herself out, made me a tad bit panicked.
I tried to plan ahead and get things taken care of in a reasonable time frame, but I never planned for cows. Luckily a friend was able to drop everything for an hour and hold Lil Bit for me while she ate and I took care of a few big things. Was everything perfectly ready for today? Nah, but we'll live and I will take out enough cash from the ATM to buy anything I forgot. Sometimes just being able to say fuggetaboutit is worth a few bucks.
Safe Travels everyone and please, be patient with crying babies. We moms have it hard enough already without worrying about YOUR trip too.
No comments:
Post a Comment