the paz family move: 2012

Day 4 - OK to MS

Day 4 and we were headed to Mississippi! We left Oklahoma and headed through Arkansas and into Tennessee and Mississippi! It sounds like a lot, but we clipped TN and only stopped 7 miles into MS.

I wish we would have had some more time to explore Mississippi because it was really pretty and the small town of Olive Branch where our hotel was was also really cute and quaint.

I wish I had more pics, but it would have required more driving..... :) And after who knows how many hours in the car with 3 stir crazy kids, who wants to get back in the car to sight see..?!

Enjoy these pics!

Someone's ready to go!!!!! By the time we hit this hotel, we had things pretty well stream-lined for what to bring into the hotel and what to leave in the car!

The next few pics are when Oklahoma actually began to look quite a bit different and nicer!! But, I realized we were getting closer to crossing borders into Arkansas so that was why things started looking better!!

Oklahoma

I love this picture... Oklahoma

We crossed the Arkansas River ... never knew it existed!

Stopped at a rest stop!

This thing was like 10 feet high! I just let him climb since we was cooped up!

She said, "What!? We have to get back in the car again?!"

A running joke in our family is that when pics are taken of Joe he is always closing his eyes.. I think he's gotten better about it.... but this pic was classic... Notice all three boys with their eyes shut and Julia is wide aware! :) That's my girl!

One last shot of the pretty part of OK!

This is First Pentecostal Church. A lot of churches from here on out have pretty tall steeples and some are fancy.

This..... is the "Old Miss, the Old Man" (from the movie Vacation). Really, the Mississippi River! So huge!

All in 1 day!

Day 3 - NM to OK

This was our going to be our longest day of driving yet! I knew this, so we started out as early as we could! We had a really nice hot breakfast provided by the hotel and we were off on our way! We left at about 8:15 am and by the time we got to the hotel in Oklahoma City it was 6:00 pm (we went ahead an hour too). We only stopped once.

What we woke up to..... hot air balloons rising off into the distance.

We stopped here for lunch and to break up our super long driving day.... and it was such a weird place. We walked into an Applebee's restaurant and immediately felt awkward and different. After we were seated, two snoodies asked to change their tables to move away from us, I was stared down in the restroom, and our waitress was from Area 51! It was the weirdest feeling! We were only there about 45 mins. and we were back on the road so it didn't matter much to me!

This was nice to see! It was a reminder that the Lord is indeed our refuge! (Psalm 46)

You're not kidding.... Texas was so flat! And there really was nothing but dinky towns all through! We only drove up the northern part of TX, but it was still pretty flat and bare.

Oh, look, a house or two.

The perfect place for these!

We didn't really take any pics of Oklahoma because it pretty much looked like Texas. Plus, I was SO not interested in OK! The second I crossed the border I was bullied left and right by speed demons! No, thank you. Oklahoma is not the place for me :)

Our hotel room in NM!

After having my entire being rocked in the desert of NM, we came "home" to this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We don't stay in hotels very often, but we know a po-dunk (my new word) hotel when we see it..... and this my loved ones was not po-dunk in any way, shape, or form!

After we walked in to the room all I wanted to do was stay there pretty much for a couple weeks or so! LOL! Really, it was so nice and I was so blessed that the Lord knew exactly what we (at least I) needed after the afternoon we had! Julia and I shared a bed, while Joe had his own bed to stretch out on and the boys used the sectional which was a sofa bed! The TV was centrally located and it swiveled. Nice touch!

After we got settled, we found a chinese take out that delivered to the door! We didn't have to leave at all! And we certainly didn't want to... :)

An Unwelcome Event!

Other titles crossed my mind for this post like; "A Terrifying Experience", "I Thought We Were Going to Die", "The Rising Water", "The Hailstorm From Heck", etc.....

Here are some pics that document exactly what the weather was like the same EXACT day when the weather was blue skies and cotton ball clouds!!! How does the weather seem to change so fast?!

One thing I know is that I will never be the same :)

The next time you are driving thru the desert and see this coming, just brace yourself! Trust me.
This is in Bluewater, NM.....out in the middle of nowhere!!!!

"Wow" is all I can say!

It was so big, we were just kicked back watching the lightning from afar, but had NO IDEA what we were about to drive into!!!!!! You can tell I'm not a very experienced cross-country driver! Either that, or I'm just a sissy from CA! Both are true! Ha!

Thanks to my husband who was eagerly shouting, "whoa, this is so cool!" to have captured all these photos. You don't see any of me completely frozen in the driver's seat totally freaking out!!!!!!!!!

Yep, that's hail!!! It could been bigger, I know, but it sounded like little rocks hitting the car at full force! The temp actually dropped about 40 degrees, too. It went from about 94 to 53 in an instant!

Needless to say we rode this out on the side of the road praying we wouldn't be a sitting duck!

I don't know how other people were able to drive through this!!!! Most of the CA plates were all pulled over! LOL!

Is it over yet?! I mean, how long do these things last anyway!

This was the after shot!!!!!! I can't believe the difference! By this time were only about an hour away from Albuquerque! I had planned to get there early because the hotel we were staying in was supposed to be really nice and I was hoping that was true so we could do some pool lounging!