Days 110-120: Family Thanksgiving



Well, Quinne arrived on time on Wednesday afternoon and the roads were clear. She was very excited about being in Texas for the first time and commented frequently about how flat it was. As we were driving south toward Littlefield, I pointed out my window and said, "See that?" She looked a little puzzled. "What?" "Oklahoma. About 200 miles from here."

 

Well, it was more important that in the snow fields surrounding us, she got to see working oil wells and huge bales of cotton. We even drove through Hereford, TX, The Beef Capital of the World! We got into Littlefield right on time at about 4:30 and met the rest of the family. My next older sister Sharon played hostess to us. My younger sister, Kim, had flown in on Monday to Lubbock. My eldest sister Lael and her grandson Wayne flew to Lubbock at the same time Quinne was arriving in Amarillo. It was the first time my sisters and I had all been together since Mom died in '99. Sadly, my second oldest sister passed away last spring and we missed her.

 

Thanksgiving Dinner was held at my great-niece (or is that grand-niece?) Destiny's home and there were about thirty of us gathered in Lubbock. Niece Julia and both her daughters, Destiny and Angel, were with us. It was the first time I'd seen Destiny and Angel in 22 years. What beautiful young ladies they've become. Angel's little girl, Katie, who adopted Quinne as soon as she walked in the door, took advantage of the last remaining snow to build a snowman on the front steps.

Kim decided to have her hair cut and give it to Locks of Love while we were all together. She did it in memory of our parents and sister and she held pictures of them while we gathered around the barber chair.

Of course, the time came for everyone to head back on Monday and I drove Quinne up to Amarillo. We got there early enough to have breakfast at the Big Texan. She found that the 72oz steak wasn't the only thing that was big. Neither of us could finish the quantity of food they served us for breakfast!

I was slated to fly back to Seattle today to spend the holiday and get some work done on the house. I had my boarding pass printed yesterday when I found out my flight had been cancelled. We got a bit of snow and ice, but DFW is totally iced-in. After an hour on the phone with American Airlines last night, I got rebooked for Sunday morning at 6:50 a.m. This morning at 8:00 they called to tell me that flight has also been cancelled. DFW is still iced-in and not expected to open before tomorrow evening. At least this time, they called me with the info and a new reservation. Now I'm scheduled to fly in on Monday 12/9, assuming that winter storm Dion (following winter storm Cleon) continues to swing north of us.

I've been using the time productively. This week, I've put out seven new books and editions. These include the new book/eBook by Mark Sawyer, "Master, Swami, Nun, Sinner, Swinger, ONE," and the eBook version of his previous paperback, "A Nickel's Worth." I put out my new adult eBook under the name of Devon Layne, "The Props Master 1: Ritual Reality." I put out the eBook version of Jason Black's middle grade historical adventure, "Bread for the Pharaoh" that is available for free on Kindle on Saturday and Sunday. Finally, I've released both the paper and eBook of my newest literary fiction, "The Volunteer." I still have a backlog of books to get out and am expecting more next week. I guess as long as I'm snowed in, I might as well stay productive!

With luck, the next post will be from Seattle!

Days 101-109: Running from the Storm

It was a turbulent time. I say that so easily. Actually, it wasn't all bad weather. I explored Espanola and finished my new book, "Redtail," while I was that week. That was some kind of record for me in NaNoWriMo. According to my stats, I finished the 50,000 word goal on November 8, finished the first draft at 89,653 on November 14, and finished the rewrite and book at 100,333 words on November 23. Oh. And I took three days off writing from the 15th-17th to finish the layouts for "Master, Swami, Nun, Sinner, Swinger, ONE." I impressed myself.

I hitched up and moved from Espanola to Taos on Wednesday the 20th and was advised to go immediately to Taos Pueblo. I did and loved it. I spent a couple hours just walking around and talking to the craftsmen/women and eating hot flatbread with powdered sugar. Yum.

 

On Thursday, I drove up to Taos Ski Village. I'd heard there was snow at higher levels and I wanted to check out the conditions, but I had another reason to go up there. A long time ago, my friend Chris Wooldridge moved to Taos to take over a ski lodge and restaurant with his brother, Tim. They were making a go of it at the Edelweiss Hotel when Chris died suddenly. Jean, his wife, asked me to do the memorial service back in Seattle. I'd forgotten that the Edelweiss had burned that spring, so what I saw up there wasn't the hotel that Chris and Tim built up. I did see Tim's new restaurant at Arroyo Hondo, but I was too early for it to be open. Nonetheless, I did find out that there was snow aplenty at 9,000 feet and I started wondering about crossing the pass on Friday.

I was pretty amused by the cattle signs. It seems these are all over New Mexico. It's hard enough watching for the cattle, but for UFOs, too? One friend said that the bullet hole was a warning not to stand too close to the sign. One had to wonder where the other five bullets from that six-shooter went!

Well, the dire predictions proved true. Friday morning I woke up to snow. About three inches of it. It was wet and sloppy, but the word was that the pass I intended to cross had closer to a foot of snow and another storm was moving in by 11:00. I had to shovel snow off the roof of the trailer and the canopy over the slide-out in order to pull it in. Got my propane tanks filled again and was on my way south by 10:30, just as the snow began coming down in earnest again.

 By the time I got down into the Rio Grande Valley, the snow had cleared and I thought I'd outrun it. I was a little disappointed because heading back south meant I'd miss seeing the Capulin Caldera, but the weather report was looking bleak for that area and it was unlikely that I'd have made it up to the peak even if I'd managed the pass. By Santa Fe, the weather looked pretty clear and I headed south on 285 figuring that by avoiding the Sandia Mountains around Albuquerque it would be a smooth downhill trip to I-40.

Not so. Not only did I gain elevation steadily, I hit the snowstorm again. Crawling along the highway in the snow and ice, I passed a couple accidents before I made it to Cline Corners. I stopped for lunch and the snow seemed to stop as well, so I headed East. I figured that  it was all downhill to Amarillo from here. It was, but I hit another storm and didn't get out of it until Santa Rosa. It was getting dark and I didn't want to risk driving at night, so I spent the night in a line of big rigs parked in the Love's truckstop.

Saturday morning I headed out again in a snowstorm. I calculated this trip. It was really cold the previous night, but the pavement was dry. The snow that was coming down was light, unlike the heavy wet stuff of the previous day, so I figured the pavement would be less slippery. I just got behind the slowest truck headed over the pass to Tucumcari, turned on my flashers, and crawled along. It wasn't too bad and took about 90 minutes to make the 50-mile drive. About half an hour out of Tucumcari I hit dry pavement again and it was pretty smooth sailing from there to Amarillo. The trailer was a mess, though!

At Veda, we were routed off the Interstate onto the frontage road for about five miles due to an accident the night before that was still being cleaned up. A dozen vehicles and three fatalities. Jack-knifed rigs with broken cases of fruit were scattered all over the highway. I pulled into Amarillo about 1:30 in the afternoon (another hour time-change to Central Standard Time) and went straight to a truck wash to get the crud off the rig. A lot of drivers had the same idea and it took an hour-and-a-half to get through. By the time I reached my campsite, the snow had begun again. I got set up and went out for an early dinner/late lunch at 3:00. By the time I got back to the campsite, there was over an inch of new snow and it was coming down like crazy. I parked the truck, went into the trailer, and stayed there for three days!

The snow finally started melting on Tuesday and I was able to get out again. Q was slated to arrive on Wednesday. Man! I didn't come to Texas to get snow!