Score

Between our extended Christmas vacation and bad weather days, it has been a long time since Zack's last basketball game.

He was supposed to have a tournament tomorrow but right now the roads/pavement are like an ice rink (no exaggeration) so we will not go - if they even have it.

This picture was from the last game he played way back like over three weeks ago.

Once again the photo credit goes to our great friend Bill Holtz.

Day Twenty - 2014

We are finally home!!

Today was, by far, the most difficult driving day we have ever had.  

We hit four traffic jams today due to weather, road conditions, and accidents.  We have never had more than two in an entire trip...and now four in the same day.

Add to this the horrendous road conditions in northern Indiana, and the entire day was nothing but stress.

In Indiana:

I know it's hard to tell in the pictures - but that is not slush on the road.  That is pure frozen ice.  Also hard to tell is that the traffic was moving at about 30 mph at this point.

And so it continued that way all through Indiana.  There would be spots when the roads were completely fine and traffic would be up to speed and then - BAM- frozen, icy roads and slow travel.  
I also do not think they salt or plow their roads.  I mean, c'mon that snowstorm was on Sunday!  There would be times when we stopped for gas or lunch that the roads were so bad I thought we would get stuck if I stopped.

Traveling from Southern to Northern Indiana typically takes us about 3 hours or less...today, it took 5.5! 

Then, just as the roads improved and we were cruising along - we hit this in Chicago: 

The left lane was blocked by a semi that had crashed into the guardrail.  

I'm glad to be safely home.  This is the only time that Indiana and Illinois has had more snow than we do here.

Day Nineteen - 2014

The drama continues...

After getting all packed up this morning and ready to go, I decided to check the internet for freeway conditions (which I never do).

I am so glad I did because I found out that travel throughout Northern Indiana was still pretty hazardous and that I65 was actually closed at three different points. 

One, just north of here was for an accident and only affecting the northbound lane but the other two were north of Indianapolis and the whole interstate was shut down due to conditions.

The kind desk clerk offered us an alternative - a highway that runs parallel to 65 that would lead to I 70 and then we could take I 70 into Illinois and go from there.

Except - I 70 was also closed due to weather conditions.

I was beginning to feel like this had to all be a bad dream.  

After phone calls and fighting my inner demons we decided it was best to just hunker down another night in Indiana.

Well, Ollie.  What should we do?

Stranded at a motel? May as well go swimming

and of course we need to bring the football to pass around

touchdown

Day Eighteen - 2014

Today was pretty much just a driving day.  It was 41* when we left Tifton and that felt cold enough but throughout the day the temp dropped like a rock until it was -2 by the time we stopped for the night in Scottsburg, Indiana.

The temps through north Georgia and Tennessee were in the mid teens to single digits which is the coldest I have ever seen there by far.  Also there were snow flurries in Atlanta and just north - very unusual.  

We got to our motel - Hampton Inn - about 6:00 and the boys went swimming.

We ordered a pizza and then wanted to watch the National Championship game but the ESPN channels were out so Jon streamed it on his laptop.

Didn't really turn out the way we wanted anyway.

It is seriously cold out there

Day Seventeen - 2014

This was an absolutely beautiful day weather wise.  

It was so hard to think about having to go back to bitter cold temps and snow.

BUT - last winter we will have to deal with that.

Every Sunday my mom and dad meet my sister for lunch - so today we were able to join them.  My sister had no idea that we had extended our stay so she was really surprised to see us!

everyone is laughing at Zack

he grabbed my dad's glasses and hat and put them on

seriously beautiful day

look at all that green grass

Ollie rode with his head hanging out the window and attracted a bit of attention.  Seriously, while stopped at red lights, two separate cars rolled their windows down to ogle at him and ask what kind of dog he was.

a bit of football before leaving

We left around 5:00 and drove to Tifton, Georgia before stopping for the night.

he doesn't get to stay there - I DO NOT share my bed with dogs!

resting at the motel

Day Sixteen - 2014

The temperature actually rose during the night so today was pretty much back to normal.

We played some pool, watched some TV, took a walk, the boys went swimming, and my mom worked at putting away her slew of Christmas decorations.

my mom has a ton of Christmas decorations

Ollie is not a fan of the "no dogs in the pool area" rule

Watching grandpa bring boxes in

For dinner we went back to the Daytona Ale House.  Chris and CJ were able to join us - they drove from Orlando to bring a couple items that Jon had forgotten.

Day Fifteen - 2014

This morning I ran around like a crazy woman packing up all our stuff to leave tonight.  It is a delicate procedure of making sure I have appropriate clothes in the overnight bag and the rest tucked away in the big suitcase.

Once all that was done we went to the clubhouse to play pool.  

While there, I got a message from hubby to look out for the predicted weather in Indiana this weekend...so I went home and turned on the weather channel and - sure enough - they had 8-12 inches of snow expected for Sunday which is exactly when we would be driving through.

So, after much thought and a call to my principal, we decided to stay here a couple extra days to avoid all that.

Instead, we went out for dinner and then played some more cribbage.

As a side note, it was very cold today - the high temp was 46*!