Froliche Silvester! Sunshine Trip: Day2

Happy New Years my lovlies!
I'm so excited! While ending things sucks mega for me there's nothing quite as invigorating or exciting than something beginning. New Years is my favorite part of the holiday cycle. Thanksgiving and All Hallows Eve are, by far, my favorite holidays; they just don't fill me with the same kind of buzzing thrum of energy that New Years does.
It's a NEW Year! Perfect, shiny, and fresh with that clean 'out of the dryer' smell. A blank slate for you to scribble with every hope and dream. A new place to meet new people and do new things. Second Chances and rainbows and Unicorns. Hehehehe. Seriously though, it feels like cresting a mountain ridge to see a valley below in all it's glory.
Sure danger and pitfalls lurk below the swaying life of the canopy. That's just part of the adventure; the play of light and shadow that makes life Life. It doesn't really matter, because at the beginning of the new year we are able to really see that light part of life unhindered. I don't know why but it's the one time we really let our hopes fly and our hearts sing for joy at the prospect of the future. We see the possible good instead of the probable bad, and it's so nice.

~*~*~

Sunshine Trip: Day 2

I count the time in the Motel 6 as part of Day 2 because we checked in at something like 1:30 in the morning and didn't get to actually sleep till 3 or so.

We pulled up to the Motel 6, completely done. Jex ran in and got the room and we made a plan. Because when you're on an adventure plans are made, otherwise it's not a proper adventure now is it? We decided that Jex would drive first thing in the morning, Cait would get whatever extra sleep she could in the passenger seat and I'd be on baby duty, catnapping when they did. Cait would drive then finally me. It was a good plan, since we didn't think Jex would fit between the car seats.
We forgot that Motel 6's are all pet friendly. So, Jex was going to sleep in the truck with Nym. I helped Cait with the babies and deposited them in the room so that I could go back and get the overnight bags and diapers. Because Every Single Time we stopped they pooped. I'm not kidding, it was weird, it's like they planned it that way. About the same time as I was walking out the door Cait said something to the effect of : "Wait a minute. Nym can come in the room with us. Jex can sleep in a real bed tonight."
Yay!
I joyfully tell my man. And he gives me this look. I haven't been given this exact look before so I don't know what to call it. Maybe his 'yeah right' face? In any case he doesn't look convinced, but he says he'll try it. We leave the truck set up for sleeping though, as a plan B. Because this is a Grand Adventure, plan B's are necessary... actually it's probably because Jex is the king of planning. For any given circumstance he has at least 3 courses of action, and that's if the event takes him off guard.
Anyparanoia, we get back to the room and what do you know. Gwendol and Kitten are running full speed in circles like some kind of crazy miniature nascar race. Cait has rearranged the room so that they can't pull anything down on their little heads and looks bedraggled. As if in the space of 30 seconds she did all of the moving; which I wouldn't doubt honestly, those kids are quick.
I have no idea how they had so much energy, or where it came from, or why it had to come out. I just wanted to whine: "It's bed time." Curl up onto the bed, pillow, floor, didn't matter and pass out.
Instead I took a shower and tried to sleep. The lights turned off but the babies didn't.
Eventually Jex went out to the truck and slept. I think Cait and I slept, maybe the babies passed out at some point. I just remember being awakened by Gwendol cuddling up next to me and patting my face mostly nicely.
Cait wanted to shower and went to shower, guess what? The light wasn't working. Last night it had worked fine with I showered, when Jex got ready for bed, but now for some unknown reason it wasn't working. Cait however is undaunted by such paltry things as utter and complete darkness. She simply ground her teeth and used her cell phone like a flashlight and took a shower in the mostly dark.
We packed up and got on our way.

Here is where things get blurry for me. I don't quite know what fit into the second and third day, and the fourth day is more of a blur because we drove through the night and stuff. I'll try to recount it truly.

On the road again we made it to our next fill up station, and realized that the Horrific Swampworld roads had severed the ropes that held the tarps on over Cait's stuff... and there was a drill hanging from the back of the trailer. Thus I was pulled away from my Huddle House breakfast to help my frustrated man fix the issue. Huddle House isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. No really, I've eaten at Waffle Houses before and they are some shady, shady, places with some questionable food. Not this place, maybe it was the one great Huddle House in all the U.S. but it was actually really yummy. And I didn't feel sick afterwards like I do at Denny's.
At long last we made it to Texas. That would be the entirety of our trip that day, the Great Country of Texas.  We passed the big "Welcome to Texas, the Lone Star State" sign. We passed the huge flags flapping proudly from their massive flag poles. Then we passed this overlarge electronic marquis sign board that read: "Drive Safe. Deaths on Texas roads this year. 2795."
I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or the fact that the babies were actually being ok, but we just about died. "Welcome to Texas, DEATH!" "Hello! Don't Die Here!" We mad bad jokes and giggled and worried and chuckled and it was great. Until we got to Dallas and passed another one of the large electronic signs.
The number was updating itself.
We'd been driving for 3 hours; there were now 2798 deaths on Texas roads. A person an hour. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
You see, humor is a great way to keep your sanity. I don't know why but it's the same with anyone in the line of work that deals intimately with life and death. Whether a soldier, a paramedic, a fire fighter or an immediate family member we all have the same dark humor.
I laughed. I felt afraid and sad, but I laughed.

We saw another wreck that day with the Jaws of Life in use on an SUV. And that night we made it to Druid and Faeriman's home to sleep. Oh Precious Sleep.

The Light Heart Lives Long~