DAYS 5-7: Snow, Snow and MORE SNOW! ARRRGHH!!!!
We were supposed to head back to DC on Friday but it turned bitterly cold and our nephew woke up with a very runny nose. I decided to spend the day getting caught up on emails and book formatting while Richard drove our tow vehicle to the gas station for a fill-up. While there, he noticed that a problem we’d had repaired right before we left had not really been repaired. A part needed to be replaced but the mechanic back home used adhesive instead. To be fair, he hadn’t charged us for the adhesive job but…it didn’t really fix the problem and we’d have preferred to have it get fixed there rather than on the road. Luckily, a local mechanic agreed to fix it for us here same-day. $450. Cha-ching!
My sister made a DELICIOUS lamb dish for dinner and we then all tried to scrape the lamb bones clean with our teeth. Heh… After dinner, we checked the weather. The Winter Storm Watch had been elevated to a Winter Storm Warning. Lovely…
On Saturday, we woke up to a yard full of snow and it was still coming down. It snowed pretty heavy all day long.
My sister and her hubby had tickets to a formal event in DC that evening and we were supposed to babysit. They decided at the last minute to go for it, and left early, giving themselves plenty of time to drive there safely. They witnessed numerous spin-outs and other accidents but they made it there and home just fine that night. We ended up getting 10 inches here over about 30 hours. Our nephew was an angel and Max and Mason enjoyed keeping him entertained all evening.
On Sunday, my sister, her hubby, and Richard started shoveling while I watched the boys and worked. We were supposed to leave here on Monday but the road hadn’t been plowed yet. While we could make it out past this street, there was no way we’d make it up the big hill to get out of her neighborhood. Worse, we had reservations at a very nice and fun restaurant that night and our tow vehicle, which is a rear wheel drive, wouldn’t make it up that hill, either. Luckily, my sister’s family vehicles are both 4-wheel drive. Dinner was LOTS of fun and really yummy!
We’d planned to leave on Monday morning but we couldn’t. I jokingly told my sister if she wanted to get rid of us, she’d need to drive us to a hotel. The road had been plowed – sort of – but there was still a thick layer of packed snow and ice on it. The city had not put down any salt or sand and it wasn’t expected to get above freezing for a couple of days. I called the state transportation department and they let me add the steep street to their list of roads to salt and sand. It could be hours…or days. Richard went to the grocery store (in my sister’s car) and I worked while supervising Max’s homeschooling lessons.
We also can’t leave on Tuesday because there’s supposed to be a small ice storm here. We might get to leave on Wednesday if the temps rise into the 50s, which is what the weatherman is predicting. If we do, we’re driving straight through to our next stop because it’s pretty obvious that Old Man Winter has it in for us this trip!
On a lighter note, we’ve created a text-based cell phone game for all the kids. We send them a picture by phone of something on our trip, taken with the camera really close to the object, and they have to guess what the item is. The first one to text back the correct answer wins $5. The kids appear to be really enjoying that game – or at the prizes!! When we announce the winner (if there is a winner during that round), we send them the photo showing the actual object. Here are a couple of examples:
Picture Puzzle #1
To see what this is, click HERE.
Picture Puzzle #2
To see what this is, click HERE.
Picture Puzzle #3
To see what this is, click HERE.
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