The trip to Lubbock

Flying with dogs can be difficult, so most years my grandmother drives down with a student from the University. However, this year, she couldn't find a gullible Texas Tech student to drive a little old, beautiful and youthful lady with a dog to San Antonio to visit her family for Thanksgiving. My mom in all her kindness, volunteered her only daughter to drive the 400 miles to Lubbock and back. Kyle and I didn't really have much else to do, so accepted our fate. The plan was to be on the road by 11 am ( we were feeling ambitious)

• wake up early
• wash the dishes
• go for a run
• pack
  
• drive to library to rent book on CD
• drive to Lubbock

Actual departure time: 1 pm

For the most part, everything went according to plan except the "waking up early." Someone had a snooze happy finger. I'm not going to say who, but the options were either Kyle or me and it wasn't me... I guess you could include Jake the cat in the equation since he bounded into our room, attempting a quick tripping of the zombies as they stumbled into the bathroom and back under the covers without even cracking an eye (we've got some mad skills). After which Jake decided to explore under the covers in case their might be any game hiding below. He was sorely disappointed so when he realized that no food nor game lay under the covers, the waking of the human/zombie game began. We did the dishes- a task we had continuously put off considering that we had run out of forks, glasses, plates- basically all of the dishes.

Once we were on the road- two hours after our attempted departure time- we stopped in Junction, Texas for the best BBQ in Texas at Cooper's BBQ! Oh man was it delicious.

Such awesome decorations!

I didn't think we had moose in Texas, but I guess a head of any animal regardless of where it comes from is good enough for decoration. I know I love to have dead animals watching me as I eat MEAT.

Terrible picture of me, and we forgot to take the picture before I actually ate the rib, but you get the idea. I love me some TEXAS BBQ!

The black berry cobbler isn't too shabby either.

One of my favorite things about this trip, besides listening to the hilarious Huckleberry Fin book on CD was the changing of the leaves. I had forgotten that not all trees in Texas turn a rotting color of death during the season of Not so hot (Fall) and There might be a cool breeze (Winter), but rather some of them actually magically transform into beautiful shades of red and yellow. Some of the trees were magnificent. The drive to Lubbock, we were anxious to be done with the drive, however, I requested on the way back we stop to take a couple of pictures along the way. Kyle assured me that there was a beautiful section in Junction which would be a perfect stopping point. However, with those Y chromosome critters they are as always, at least almost always WRONG. Driving into Junction, Kyle realized that what he was thinking of must have been the spot when I said, "Kyle, Kyle, what about here, those are beautiful trees!" But did we stop there? The exact place he was thinking must have grown legs and changed locations. But to give Kyle credit, after much pouting on my part, Kyle pulled over on the side of I-10, and took some photos of the Texas Hill Country changing colors.


Driving long distances isn't my cup of tea, but I was very glad to have my Grandmother home for Thanksgiving. This thanksgiving, I am thankful for my family more than ever!