Traveling To See Steve, Keri, & The Kiddies...

On March 18th we set out on a very dark nasty stormy drive to Millington, TN (it is right outside of Memphis) to see Paul's brother Steven for the last time before he leaves for Iraq the 20th of April. The weather was so horrible when we left we actually contemplated waiting until the next day, but Rob & Tressa (Paul's parents) were there visiting as well and we wanted to have some time with them. They were going to be leaving the 19th to fly back to Gaithersburg. So needless to say the weather was yucky nasty, rainy, and a bit foggy...but nothing we hadn't traveled in before and besides it is only a 7 hour drive. Well we got to Blythesville, Arkansas and the sky lit by lighting and we knew we were in trouble. The lighting revealed that we were heading towards a ledge that certainly had the possiblity of producing a tornado. Paul & I both thought Oh Dear God, but didn't say a word. The tension was definitely there though, we pulled under a bypass and turned on the radio. Well, not being from that area we had no idea that the counties they were reporting about were several miles away. We thought it was for us and that we were only in a watch when in fact we were actually in an area that was under a tornado warning. Right about that time we decided that maybe we should find somewhere to stop for the night. But of course there is absolutely nothing between Blythesville, AK and Millington, TN so we finally stopped when we got the chance. We checked in, got all the sleeping children in the room, and finally fell asleep. We awoke very early the next morning to finish our drive, and as we were checking out I asked how far we were from Memphis. 12 miles she replied, well what a waste of $80.00 when we could have saved it and been there the night before. But oh well we got there early and safe, we had a wonderful visit with Rob & Tressa before they had to leave for the airport and enjoyed the rest of our day with Steve, Keri, Laurel, and Reagan. Getting there sure was nerve wracking though...