Forty miles of bad road...

I spent over 10 hours on the road (highway, toll road, interstate, county, good and bad city streets) over the past 30 some-odd hours (Wow. I thought it was a longer period of time. It felt like forever.)

The following is my penance for not being appropriately sensitive when my children were in challenging situations. I think I always skipped to the comment, "Think of this as an adventure!"*

What did I learn from this drive?

1. Always start a trip on the tollway with a full tank of gas (I prayed myself to an exit).

2. Always use the restroom before you get on the tollway or any stretch of road through the empty landscape. (Tiny towns now have truck stops. Thank heavens!) Sorry about this one, but I am past middle age - it's an issue.

3. Never depend on a county road unless you know the road.

4. Never take a "short cut" down a county road if there is any chance of rain, especially if the ground is already soaked and the fields and ditches full of water.

5. If it is raining and you see a sign that says "Road may flood" or anything like that (I was dodging potholes and watching for flood water - I am not certain of the exact wording.), STOP. Take another road.

6. If you borrow a car, learn how to use the windshield wipers (including the back one!) before it starts raining. Just because you have ridden in a car, it does not mean you know how to operate the accessories.

7. Never drive through water running across the road. Even if the vehicles in front of you "make it" you may not. (I am making no confession here - just sayin'. And all I am saying is that I have seen rivers in the bar ditches, ponds where none should be, and water shooting up out of the manholes in a small Texas town today. I am still a little stunned.)

8. It is true what Dorothy Gale said, "There's no place like home."**


NOTES:

*My father-in-law said that it's only an adventure if things are hopelessly messed up. (paraphrased)

**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ6VT7ciR1o

And since I referenced The Wizard of Oz, I will leave you with this little tune I heard today -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8158o3Uzc (Willie Nelson singing "Over the Rainbow.")