Getting There's the Fun Part

Tuesday morning we headed out for our drive up to Las Vegas. We had packed nearly everything in the car the night before and left right at 8:00, just as we had planned. Our last drive to Vegas for Bill's marathon only took 8 hours and 15 minutes, which may have been a record, but it was late when we left that time and traffic was pretty much a non-issue. Leaving at 8, we wouldn't avoid traffic but it would allow for most of the trip to be during the daylight. Or so we thought.

The first two hours of our trip included dark clouds with heavy rain and very gusty winds. We were very glad Bill had decided not to tow his motorcycle in a trailer behind us. By the time we reached Phoenix, however, things seemed to be looking up. Drew enjoyed some Wonder Pets and Elmo on his portable DVD player, cuddled with his monkeys, and we were in and out of Olive Garden for lunch in less than 25 minutes. Drew even settled in for a nap shortly after lunch. All was well.


Then, we got to the Hoover Dam checkpoint, a mere hour from my parents' house. The home stretch. And the guard warned us that there was an accident at mile 3 before the dam. At mile 5 we ran into this:


This did not appear to be a good sign. Even worse was when we saw the MedEvac helicopters fly in. We knew this was not just a minor fender bender. Grateful that all we had to worry about was a later arrival than we had planned on, we tried to make the best of our little delay.

First, we reminded Drew about all the excitement the next few days would bring and Drew treated us to his excited face.


Since so many other folks were getting out of their cars and we didn't appear to be moving anywhere anytime soon, we spent a little time outside too. Shockingly (insert sarcastic tone) and to Bill's delight, I thought it would be a good idea to take a few pictures. The mountain views near the Dam are beautiful.

We were even there long enough to see the sunset.

Drew was surprisingly patient, but it was definitely a good thing we had packed as many snacks as we did. After an hour standstill, we were finally on the move again. The drive over the Dam was still very slow going as traffic had been stopped in both directions for that whole time. Finally, after over 11 hours on the road, we arrived at my parents' house. At least we got in safely and, since it was dark, we were able to see all the Christmas lights in my parents' community. And, we don't have to drive again for a week!