Worst. Trip. Ever.

Here's a picture of Baby Girl, before we started off for Memphis Friday morning. Happy as a clam. Little did she know, we would have the worst weekend trip ever!! (Aunt Molly - this is meant as no offense to you, b/c we did have a great time at the party & visiting with you guys. But still...wow....we had NO idea it would be such an ordeal getting to/from Memphis!!)

Joyce & Stan stayed with us Thursday night, and then left Friday AM with Nate for Memphis. They wanted to take him a day early, to spend time with his great-grandma. Then, the plan was for Greg/me/Abby to follow on Saturday morning, to make it in time for the party at 3.pm (It was Greg's Uncle Shan's retirement/bday/derby party!)

Well...we made it all the way past Jackson, TN, and had about an hour left in our trip, when all of a sudden we were diverted off I-40. There were reports of a tornado 15 miles down the interstate and flooding as well. Of course where they diverted us off the road, there was NOTHING. One dumpy gas station and one hotel. So as you can imagine, the bathrooms were out of order and everyone was frantic trying to buy food, water & gas. Did I mention it was a monsoon and had been so for 3 hrs? Yes, fun times in the family van. We decided to backtrack to Jackson (about 15 minutes away) and then take some side roads to get around the 10 mile stretch of 40 that was closed and get back on. Not a good plan. Every back road we tried was flooded. All I will say is this...we were in a seriously bad spot at one point. Thank goodness for my prayer warriors - you helped to keep us safe! And my husband is an awesome driver (wow, never thought I'd mutter that sentence.)

We moved to plan B, which was to head north to Dyersburg and then down to Millington, and back onto 40 right before Memphis. It worked, but took a heck of a long time, and again, there were some really iffy spots. After we drove thru one town (Covington), they shut down all the roads behind us. That's how bad the flooding was. So, we arrived to the party just as it was starting, at 3 pm. It had been a long 7 hrs but luckily Abby was soooooooooo good. She had 3 catnaps, 2 big poops, and 1 mini-meltdown. Not bad for a 6 month old stuck in a van all day!

We were happy to see the rest of the family, and of course, NATE! The party was a big hit - lots of food, drinks, and fun. We all drew numbers to see which horse to root for, and ours got 7th! So we got to pick out a prize (which was a supercute Derby shirt for me). Abby flirted with all the men, Nate made us all laugh & ate his weight in sausage, and we all had fun celebrating with Uncle Shan. And Grandma Givens got to meet Abby Reece for the first time!

Mum Mum was happy to see us arrive safely

Greg & Nate (aka The Bobsey twins) grubbin'

Uncle Shan enjoying his retirement party!

Such a cute cake! Props to Aunt Molly's friend Cindy who made it

Showing off Baby Girl

After the party was over and the kids were in bed, of course the civil alert sirens starting going off, warning us of an impending tornado. Seriously!? Luckily the kids didn't wake up, and more importantly, there was no tornado...just more bad storms to add to the already bad flooding everywhere. Awesome.

We had a big family breakfast at Perkins on Sunday morning, and Grandma Givens finally got to really visit with us & the kids. They were on their best behavior, and Nate stole the show by making Abby laugh....over & over & over. He loves being a big brother (and showing off)!

Aunt Molly & Shan loving on Abby before we started the trek home

So after checking the TDOT website's road condition maps, and calling the highway patrol, it seemed as though I-40 was clear and we were ready to head home. It was smooth sailing for about 2 hrs (well, despite MORE rain!), until we came to a dead standstill on 40. Luckily, there was a state trooper a few cars up in the emergency lane, so Greg got out and tapped on the guy's window to get some info. Apparently, part of I-40 had just flooded and they were unable to divert traffic off in time. And since we were not allowed to turn around in the emergency lane and go backwards, we were stuck. Like, literally nowhere to go. Craziness!!!!!!!!!!!! After about 30 minutes, we heard on the radio that they were finally able to divert people off the highway, at Exit 172. And since we were at Exit 165, you'd think that'd be just a few minutes wait. Um, not so much. We went 3 miles in 2 hrs. Greg & I spent the next two hours hanging out in the van with Abby, and Greg made a few trips to the Givens' van behind us where Nate was. He was having a ball and of course, not napping at all. Just lots of snacks & dvds!

We let Abby get out of her carseat and have some playtime while we were stuck


Finally, as we were creeping along, we came to an "emergency vehicles only" road that was not TOO muddy/flooded. We took that and were able to crossover to the other side of 40. Finally - freedom!!! We backtracked to Exit 163 and found a gas station (with working bathrooms). We took a backroad into Dickson and then met an angel at gas station #2. He told us he'd just come from Murfreesboro, and told us the series of roads we could take to get there safely. So, we toured Dickson, Natchez Trace Parkway, Columbia, and Spring Hill, and then finally hit I-65. We made it home after 7.5 hrs. What a day.

Of course, it could have been worse...I realize this. We could have gotten carried off into the floodwaters, had damage to our car or house, or been seriously hurt. None of the above happened. We just had two days of VERY long & frustrating travel (15 hours!), with a 6 month old and a toddler. We feel lucky we made it home safely, and (sorry Aunt Molly!) will probably not be making a trip to Memphis anytime soon.