Dana’s twin sister was due to have a baby in late March, around the time of Scott’s second birthday. Thanks to some complications, though, they had to deliver the baby a few weeks early.
We got the call last Monday night. By 9:00 we had packed suitcases, loaded the car, and dropped Fishie off for fish-sitting. We got to Amarillo at 1:30 AM. The Texas panhandle is extremely tedious after midnight. Luckily I had some really great coffee (from a Love’s station at Erick, OK) and The Bangles Greatest Hits to keep me awake.
Coffee? Okay, so it turned out to be hot chocolate. No wonder it tasted so good.
We stayed the night at America’s Best Value motel in Amarillo. It was okay, but it wouldn’t have been up to my mother’s standards. They spared every expense.
Half of the light fixtures didn’t work. The other half had mismatched bulbs, and were barely useful anyway. The fluorescent tubes over the sink buzzed and flickered, the circular bulb in the front lamp crackled, and the light by the TV was an incandescent. (Standard incandescent light bulbs are embarrassingly obsolete. Apparently some people haven’t figured this out yet.)
The fan in the bathroom was loud enough to wake the dead. The soap and shampoo had been outsourced to India. The pillows were small, flat, and lumpier than a bag of squirrels. My particular pillow had an old Best Western tag on the end. The carpet smelled faintly of cat urine and stale cigarettes. There was no crib, so Scott tap-danced on Dana’s head all night.
Yet even with all that, I’m not going to complain. The motel had three redeeming qualities. First, it was on the first off-ramp that had lodging. Very important with a grumpy toddler in the back seat! Second, the front desk clerk gave Scott a cute little toy check-mark mascot. He called it Buddy, but privately we renamed it Checkie. Third, coffee and bagels were waiting when we went to check out.
So we hit the road at 7:00 AM. We zipped northwest through Dumas, Dalhart, Clayton, and Raton. Then north to Pueblo, stopping for fries at Carl’s Junior in Walsenburg. Along the way we got another call: The child had already arrived.
The hospital kept mother and baby until midday Saturday. Until then we visited them in the hospital, helped to clean house, and unpacked a big trunk of baby clothes that we had brought along. Dana telecommuted with a laptop computer. I read about half of Heaven by Stewart & Cohen, which is pretty good so far. The purpose of the book seems to be to describe lots of weird alien species in detail. Scott and I got haircuts.
Saturday night we went to a Brahms concert, leaving Scott with his aunt for a while. He reportedly had fun. Our friend Eric (who went to college with us) also made an appearance with his fiancee.
Yesterday, Sunday, we drove back to Norman. The others had said that going through eastern Colorado and the Oklahoma panhandle would be faster than the New Mexico route, so we tried it. Of course it took an hour longer. Along the way we stopped in Amarillo again, this time for supper.
Tip for vegetarians: The Burger King on I-40 in Amarillo does not list the BK Veggie sandwich on its menu. I didn’t ask if they could make one for me. They also had run out of King Size containers for fries and onion rings.
Pueblo is a great place to visit family. There are many tasty restaurants and interesting cultural events. But as with all travel, it’s nice to come home again.
Now for a picture of the reason for the trip. Presenting… The new niece!
