Roadtrip #3: Back to Houston!

This is why I went missing for a few days. :)

The Accident
Unfortunately, the Friday before I was supposed to head down to Houston my driver's sideview mirror was destroyed. All I really saw was the truck in front of me kick up a very long pipe and that pipe flying through the air. At the last second I threw my arm up to cover my face because it was headed straight for the windshield. But instead of a crash I heard a thud and to my joy glanced up to find absolutely no damage to my windshield.

And then I tried to change lanes with my sideview mirror.

Also, alas, the hood was scratched so deeply it had hit the metal and was eventually going to rust away. So suddenly my car was going into the shop and I had to find a replacement if I was still to go - barring I could still go with insurance/rental issues - but my insurance company was really awesome and I was thrilled. So the plan was still in place.

(I realize I'm really, really lucky that nothing worse happened, so this fix was not.a.big.deal. Sideview mirror? Doable.)

The Rental & Eight Hours, Going Once
I've never rented a car before. So when the lady asked me whether I would like a mid-size or full-size sedan, and explained that my Altima would essentially be a full-size and that I would probably get one, I decided to go with what I knew. However, in the back of my head there was this constant nagging doubt that I should've gone with the mid-size.

When the driver came to pick me up in a Mercury Sable, I suddenly felt all those doubts rise to the surface. It was an older model, so the thought of gas mileage alone scared me, and it certainly wasn't something I wanted to drive in Houston traffic. (I learned to drive in my grandfather's Buick, and I've just never been a fan of driving that size of car. I have trouble judging distances anyway - and once nearly backed into the fence early on - so I don't need any extra length added.)

Finally though, after being told that this was all they had, a nice lady popped up in the back and said there was a mid-size Ford Focus if I was interested.

Yes. Yes, please.

All that to say: go with your instincts.

The car was great and I managed to slide through all the big cities without traffic, so the drive down was perfect. I was really nervous about taking an unfamiliar car all that way, so I was really grateful this turned out so well. God is good.

Everything is all taken care of now, though, and my car is back in my possession looking great. If you ever need a body shop in the area, I have one to recommend.

Houston!
Yay! Houston!

Wednesday night Will had an unsuspecting Travis & Dave come over and I think everyone enjoyed hanging out the rest of the night.

And then on Thursday, poor Will got sick! Pretty sick, actually. :( Poor guy. (For those concerned, he seems to be doing fine now.) We did spend a lot of time catching up on various Nostalgic Critic episodes (who, by the way, is hysterical but very R-rated and language heavy, so be aware.) Also, I had the chance to see a taped rendition of his Pinocchio that I had been itching to watch and was glad to finally have the opportunity.

On Friday morning Kim graciously dropped Robbie & I off at the Zoo (where the OKC Zoo membership provides 1/2 off prices!) Although we did see lots of animals, I think if I totaled it up we spent about three of the five hours there in the children's zoo alone which was pretty funny. Robbie ran around in circles on the playground. Considering it was over 100, that's some pretty intense stamina! And he wasn't quite ready to go at the end either, but it was getting hot and late and he had to be getting tired, so we rode the carousel and headed home.

As for Issac, he is cuter than ever and has this grin that you can't help but return.

Travis and I actually got to catch up at Barry's Pizzeria which was nice and Kim & I were able to watch the latest Pride & Prejudice movie which I also enjoyed. Having never read or watched any of the movies, I went in without any idea of what it was really about and it was really funny.

Also, in the midst of all this, I did manage to finish reading Hunger Games, which I really enjoyed. For some reason, I kept fighting the first person point of view for the first part of the book, but was over it by the end and really enjoyed the bits that became more stream of conscious. And the story was great. Fast read, great story. Now I'm (probably) going to launch into Game of Thrones 2.

McKinney & Eight Hours, Going Twice
On the way back I arrived in McKinney at the perfect time for dinner with Philip & Kelly at Paoli's! Yum. World Market. Good time with more friends.

And then back on the road. A different route this time - up 1-77 to avoid the awful construction I ran into on 35 last time- buuut, 1-77 scared me a bit when I realized just how desolate it was. While I did like that it went straight into Shawnee, I didn't like that there were essentially no streetlights anywhere. And, although I knew it going in, no towns. So that meant no gas stations or ones in tiny towns that close way too early. That's potentially nervewracking.
So it's back to 35 for me.

And also bedtime for me.

But since I left Houston with this song stuck in my head, I now leave it with you:



It's a monkey!!