"Better Refugee North Right Quick, Ma'am"

Twelve hours to get from Houston to Austin. We spent four hours of that on 1093 (Westheimer) on a stretch that should take only 10 minutes. I had to take Emma to pee on the side of the road and she cried because she doesn't like to do bathroom things in front of people. I'm sure she was utterly traumetized having to do it in front of 100,000 people. I also got eaten alive with fireants on my left foot because I couldn't shake them off while Emma was peeing. But I don't complain. There are others who still haven't made it here.

But once you resign yourself to the fact that traffic is going to be a bitch and you are not going to make good time, it becomes much easier to handle mentally. I only had one instance of road rage. We had just made it through the four hours of traffic on 1093 and the only reason traffic was moving at all was because two nice men were directing the traffic that was coming from two directions. We were the second in line and the woman in front of us stopped to ask the nice men directions. There were probably 15 hours of cars behind her by that time, and the stupid bitch wants to hold it up to ask for directions she probably didn't have the brain function to understand anyway. I lunged across Jethro and plunged myself on the horn. It was either that or the gun, and I didn't care which. I just leapt upon the first thing that would do my bidding. The woman is very lucky she survived Hurricane Rita with her body whole.

We are staying with one of my sisters who lives in apartments owned by a frat house. It is a total shitbox, so Jethro and I went to WalMart (which is a blog post in itself) and bought her a dvd player, a shower curtain and some groceries. We will end up buying her a shower head too when all is said and done. She is lucky to have us and we are lucky to have her, but she is one of those kids who is a little old lady long before her time. I think Gwennie and Emma will put quite a strain upon her nerves by the time we leave.

I am hoping Trashman calls us. It would be great to finally meet him (hint, hint).

Thank you all so much for your well wishes. Aside from worrying about Jethro's parents, who wouldn't leave even when I had Gwennie call them and beg, we are doing fine. God bless you all.