Fort Clark Springs or Bust!!

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Daunting isn't it?! That's right, people. Eight hundred and seventy some-odd miles between this Schwartz family and the Wright family reunion!  Yes, I said 870 miles.  It's hard to tell from the map but the city Piedras Negras, just below our destination, is in Mexico. We slightly underestimated the volume of luggage required for a family of six, one of which is an infant.  Actually, once everything that was to be loaded in the car was in a central location, we had filled our office.  Good thing Adam had purchased an additional method for hauling baggage.  And once again, we headed out much later than we had planned. At least this time, there was no flight to catch. Adam and I vowed for the next family vacation, we will start a day earlier.

We pulled out of the driveway at 7 pm, still having to stop to pick up some diapers. Despite everything else against us, we managed to make it to New Boston, TX on that first night. We stayed at a fabulous Holiday Inn Express where I met a lovely lady named Rose. Early that next morning, Holt and I were up way before the rest of the crew and wanted to let them all sleep a little longer. We headed down to grab some breakfast, where we were greeted by Mrs. Rose.  "Oh, look at that baby!  Let me see him!" she exclaimed as she held out her arms.  Normally, I would think this to be weird but one look at her and you can just tell that she is a seasoned grandmother.  I sat and ate breakfast, visiting with her, while she held and rocked Holt.  It was a really sweet time.  She is one of those people that you have one conversation with her and already feel like you've known her since forever.  After an hour or so, we headed back up to wake the sleepyheads.

On the road again!  Driving, driving, and more driving.  Our plan was always to get to the other side of San Antonio and stay the night in a hotel.  Brackettville is only about two hours from San Antonio.  What we didn't realize, as we passed a million hotels, is that once you get to the other side of San Antonio, there is nothing!  Zilch.  We drove an eternity before getting to the next town, which had no places to stay.  It started to seem crazy, now that we were less than 1.5 hours from Grandma's to stay the night anywhere else.  We pressed on and made it around 11 pm.

The kids were wonderful!  How ever did parents make it back before DVD players in the car?  We hardly heard a peep out of any of them the whole trip.  Since the kids and the parents have seperate DVD players, Adam and I were able to get through half of the final season of 24, our driving drug of choice.

P.S.  Pumping on the go is quite an interesting and humiliating experience all in one.