Monday, December 21, 2009

snow route

To get to my parents, the route is I-40 to I-81 to I-77 to I-74 to hwy 52 to hwy 109. We only made it Friday to the I-81 section near Kingsport, TN. I drove the first 4 hours (what should have been half of the trip) and Ryan took over just as the weather got bad. At this point in our trip, we were stopped behind a jack-knifed semi truck and just waiting for someone in front of us to move.

Even though this isn't the best picture, it shows the situation best. The 2010 Camaro is stuck behind a jack-knifed semi. The lights to the far right belong to a truck heading to Winston-Salem. We followed that truck for a while, watching it struggle to get enough traction to get up the hills. At one point, the semi just started sliding sideways down a banked curve.

After about 5 hours and only going about 5 miles, we decided it was best to try to find somewhere to spend the night. They obviously weren't doing anything to improve the road conditions and more and more drivers were getting stranded as cars filled the ditches and median.

Thanks to the GPS, we were able to see which exits had hotels. After calling, we found out that there weren't any vacancies until exit 63, Airport Parkway, at the Red Carpet Inn. After getting off the exit (and having to help push 3 cars out of the way on the ramp) and seeing a handful of cars ditched at the bottom of a LARGE hill, we realized why they still had rooms. We parked and hiked to the top, happy that we weren't having to sleep in the car.

This is the view from the hotel parking lot of I-81 on Sabbath morning.

Ryan helped some others out then got our car out of the place we had left it overnight. We decided to get back on the road before what had melted turned into ice.

By then, the plows were out and spreading a sand mixture on the roads. It was still icy in spots, but we were finally able to cruise again.

I'm not sure if this is after getting on I-77 in Wytheville, VA or before. The oncoming traffic looked like this much of our trip. You can see the slush in the left lane heading our direction. It kept switching from 2 cleared lanes to only one, quite unexpectedly at times.

At about 2:00p, we pulled into my parents' driveway. They weren't sure we'd even make it that far into their neighborhood with steep hills in either direction from their house. Needless to say, we were glad to be off the road!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

as seen on the Internet

"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever.Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.


Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that.

My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."

Monday, December 07, 2009

December visit

church Sabbath

Sabbath spaghetti lunch

Randy made friends with some of the birds

Saturday night involved a brief decorating stint of putting icicles up with SA officers.

Then we headed downtown for Black & Blue Night at the Wild @ Preds game.

The Predators recently unveiled their third (alt.) jerseys.

action near the Wild's goal

Nashville (football & hockey) sports fans

Randy

celebrating some last-minute action, but it was too little too late and the Preds lost 3-5

had to post this b/c it's funny

Thankful for home

Oreo and Maggie took us on a walk around the neighborhood Wednesday.

Maggie smiles for her picture

Grant & Kirsten with Bilbo, the new kitty

Thanksgiving spread

matching Life is Good models

ready to eat

Bilbo!
Kirsten, Ryan, and Grant testing out the giant windchimes at the Greensboro Arboretum

Grant & Kirsten

Ryan & Me in a gazebo

Skye matches the bathroom blues

Pit Saturday night

We stopped in Kingsport, TN to see Tara, Bill, & Karen. They made us a great lunch and helped break up our trip nicely!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

paridae family in my yard

levitating?

sharing a seed

Baeolophus bicolor

wanna-be cockatoo

Poecile carolinensis

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

leaf monster

When I saw that the grounds crew (Michael and Bryce) had raked together a respectable amount of leaves, I grabbed Carson and Billy and headed out for the last minutes of daylight yesterday.



Sunday, November 08, 2009

for Ryan

Friday, November 06, 2009

school spirit

This week was our fall SA Spirit Week. I think it's the first one I've attempted to try to dress up for every day. Back to normal clothes next week.

Monday: Sports Day

Tuesday: Fake Injury Day

Wednesday: 60s Day

Thursday: Superhero Day

Friday: Highland Day

 Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

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