There aren’t any great pictures in this post. Nor are there any stories about how much fun we had. We basically spent all day driving. And driving. And driving. No fun stops. Just potty breaks and food pit stops. We were so anxious to get to our final destination, where we’d be spending the last 2 weeks of our trip.
Michigan is where our entire family was born, with the exception of Steve. It’s our home. The state where we got married. The state we had all our babies in. Where we grew into a family, bought our first house, really grew up. Such wonderful memories of the beginnings of my very own family.
Michigan is also home to some of the most important people in my life. Family and friends. Although the numbers are dwindling as many Michiganders are spreading out across the country in search of work. Many of them have landed right in Houston with me! I am one lucky lady:)
It’s always exciting to go back. We haven’t been back in 2 years. Time goes by so fast and you don’t always realize it, until something makes you stop and pay attention. The last time we were here was for my youngest brother’s high school graduation. Good memories!
I couldn’t wait to see my sweet niece, my beautiful sister, my mom and grandma. All these women that are so dear to my heart. I couldn’t get there fast enough!
While we were driving through Ohio we went through a horrible storm. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I’ve been listening to my satellite radio during the trip so I have no clue about local events or weather. The sky turned a muddy brown/gray as the clouds rolled in. Then the rain turned vicious, dropping in such thick sheets I was having a hard time being able to see the road ahead. All I could think about were tornadoes in light of the recent storms that have swept the nation. I couldn’t even look for a tornado ahead because I couldn’t see anything! I was following a semi and just keeping my eyes on his tail lights. That’s how I was able to navigate. Everyone on the road slowed to a crawl. The road we were on was under construction and there was a cement barricade with no shoulder on one side, orange barrels on the other. I thought about pulling over through the barrels but I didn’t see a good spot to pull over and I felt safer by staying on the road behind the semi.
Then the hail started. Literal sheets of it. It sounded like rocks hitting the car. Rocks!! I found myself dodging them through the windshield, I thought it was going to shatter. I was so scared. I had Blake try to find a local station on the radio and of course there was a tornado warning. They were telling everyone to seek shelter ASAP in certain counties. Of course I had no idea what county I was even in but I had a feeling that the tornado warning was directed at where I was at. I don’t know why I kept driving. I really thought I was going to kill all my kids and myself but I was trying hard to stay calm and not freak out. I was shaking so hard. Petrified. But I kept driving. I just had to get us out of that storm and I could tell I was driving into it, which meant at some point I would drive OUT of it. And I did. I was still shaking when we stopped off at the next rest stop. There were other cars there who had lots of hail damage but we can out unscathed. Fortunately.
And that was our excitement for the day until we made it to my mom’s house in Romeo, MI, just north of Detroit. My sister was waiting for me along with my mom. We hung out until the early morning before finally heading to bed. It’s hard to get somewhere so exciting so late at night! But we were all looking forward to the coming weeks!!
