Last week was a crazy week! I had full intentions of writing the last part of our Phoenix trip, but of course things don't always go as planned. I wanted to finish all of my thank you notes from my Birmingham shower before this weekend, because I had a shower in Dothan this weekend. I didn't want them to get built up. But on Wednesday I started not feeling well. By Thursday my left ear was killing me. So I called the ENT and he worked me in. Sure enough I have an ear infection. I haven't had one since college. I forgot how horrible they are and how they make you feel terrible! I am already praying that John Turner does not have my ears!
On my last post I ended by telling you that we had made it back to our room and got in the bed around 1:00am. Our flight was leaving Phoenix at 6:50am, so we decided to get up at 4:00am pack and head to the airport. Everything went as planned. We made it to the airport in plenty of time. We were surrounded by many excited but exhausted Auburn fans. The flight from Phoenix to Chicago was a long one. But since it was so early most people just slept in the plane. Flying to Chicago was part of our flight plan....
We landed on time in Chicago and I turned on my phone. Mom had texted me to say that the Atlanta airport was shut down, due to the bad weather - ice and snow. We immediately checked our flight schedule and all was well. Our flight was still bound from Atlanta. But what was weird was that all the other American Airlines flights we cancelled. We had a little time to kill so we ate lunch in the airport. Just as we sat down Mom texted me said that our flight had also been cancelled. Lovely!
As soon as we finished lunch, we got on the phone with American Airlines to book another flight home. There was one flight still available later on Tuesday night, but it was full, and there were already 45 people on standby. American suggested that we fly to New York City and then to Atlanta. Why would we do that? New York was getting 12 inches of snow the next day! Then they suggested that we fly to Houston and then to Atlanta. All we wanted to do was get home. The only direct flight that they could book us on to Atlanta was on Thursday afternoon. That meant we would have to spend 2 days in Chicago. That would be fine if #1 - the airlines paid for us a hotel room (a big negative), #2 - we had appropriate clothing. Remember we had just left Glendale with 65 degree weather. Kelsey didn't even have a jacket.
So we debated our options .... stay in Chicago until Thursday, fly around the US trying to make it Atlanta, or drive home. After debating for a while we decided we should drive. So we then began the hunt for a rental car. We called five rental car companies before finally finding a car with 4 Wheel drive. Guess what the only car available in Chicago was... a Ford Escape!
An hour later we were headed south. It was snowing hard in Chicago. We did a little sight seeing from our car windows...
Leaving the airport! Lots of snow everywhere!
"Hello Mom. I am driving home from Chicago. See you in 12 hours!"
Garmin... a must have! It says that we will be home/Atlanta (all most home)
in 11 hours and 34 minutes!
Sight seeing ... The White Sox stadium
We drove for about an hour. Then Gunter said, "I don't feel so good. Sorry guys we are going to have to pull over." No big deal. I have to go to the bathroom about every hour anyway, so I could always use stop. Little did we know what we would be stopping every thirty minutes from here on out. Gunter didn't feel any better after we stopped, instead things got worse. Kyle had taken over the driving, and that was a good thing because Gunter "got sick" shortly after that. Poor thing! It lasted all night!
The only thing we can figure out is that it was food poisoning. We all ate at Chili's for lunch, but no one else got sick. Gunter did have a delicious smoothie before we left the airport. It must have had bad fruit or something in it. Good thing we had Kyle to drive! I don't think I would have been able to drive in that weather! It snowed the whole time! From Illinois to Georgia. The roads were icy in some parts too. In Kentucky we sat on Highway 65 for an hour and a half in stand still traffic. When we reached Louisville, we decided to stop for the night. We all needed a shower, and Gunter needed to get in the bed.
On Wednesday we started out bright and early. We had about six hours left until we reached Atlanta, and then we had 3 more hours to Dothan. Our trip from Kentucky to Alabama wasn't as eventful as the day before. Gunter was still not feeling well, but not throwing up anymore. This was a very good thing!
See Rock City? I wish that we had time!
At least we had beautiful snowy scenery while we were driving
Finally at about 3pm, we made it the Atlanta airport. We had to go there to turn in our Escape and get our cars from the airport parking lot. Kyle and Kelsey were headed to Birmingham, then Kelsey had to head on to Auburn. Gunter and I headed to Dothan. We got home about 7pm that night. What a trip!
Oh Escape! We will miss you!
I think we put about 750 miles on the ole Escape. We all decided that we would do it all over again! Well, Gunter said he would if he didn't have food poisoning. At least he lost some weight! ha! ha! Our trip was very memorable! And well worth it to be able to see our Auburn Tigers win the National Championship! War Eagle! Hooray for great family memories! The things we do for the ones we love! Wouldn't trade it for the world!
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