Along the Road

Jim, Jacob, and I hit the road on Sunday morning to drive to Texas. If you ever need to know when the next winter storm will bear down on Michigan, just find out the date we are planning a road trip into or out of the state. Inevitably, the weather will be nasty that day. Fortunately, we were able to beat the latest snow storm, and were cruising hundreds of miles south of Detroit in balmy temperatures before the precipitation even began up there.

Our drive was fairly uneventful - which was a good thing. We stopped for the night near Little Rock, where the area has recently been hit with a "swarm" of small earthquakes. I thought that, after visiting many quake-prone states in the past, it would be pretty funny to feel my first earthquake in Arkansas. Even though there were actually 12 tiny tremors while we were at our hotel overnight, I never even felt a quiver.

Once in Texas on Monday, I was, as usual, on the lookout for interesting things. I was not disappointed. First, we passed a hobo-type man walking on the shoulder of the road pulling an 8-foot-tall cross on wheels. Next, we saw a 20-foot-high statue made completely from flower pots. Later, we were surprised to come across a large group of people on horseback clomping along the highway, escorted by the police with a sign that read "Old Spanish Trail Ride." We later learned that over 3,000 riders are currently en route to southeast Texas to participate in the annual "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo."

The weather in Houston was absolutely beautiful today. While the northern girl in me loves the snow, I must say that I really enjoyed puttering in my yard this afternoon with the 76 degree sun warming my face. In February! At one point, I checked the temperatures in both Michigan and Texas, and it was 56 degrees warmer at our Houston house. I wore a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, which is standard garb for here, but unheard of this time of year up north.