The weekend started out with Elise and I trying to get on the road and up to Dallas before it got too late on Friday evening. I got home from work and loaded what was already packed into the Jeep. Elise finished packing up until 6:30, which is when we finally left.
Having thought that my feet would never touch ground in that city again, we stopped in bustling Temple for dinner. We stopped at Wendy’s because my parents boast about how great their salads are. Elise and I both tried the Mandarin Chicken salad. After waiting almost 10 minutes for our salads, pouring half a cup of light green water out of each, and honestly trying to stomach our “garden sensations”, I got back into line to order us a couple hamburgers while Elise threw away two nearly-full salads.
We got back on the road and arrived at Jenn’s in DeSoto around 10:30 p.m. We stayed up talking on the front porch until around 3 a.m. Elise woke up around six and let me sleep until seven. We ate breakfast and headed to Verden, Oklahoma. We stopped along the way in the booming town of Ryan, OK for a break. It was in Ryan where Elise and I both suffered extensive cartilage damage from returning hand waves.
We made it to Verden just in time for cousin Lisa’s wedding. All but four Boeckman’s (Elise’s father’s family) were sitting on the bride’s side of the church. That’s a lot of people. The Boeckman’s that were present could easily take over the town of Verden and then call it Boeckmanstonfieldville. Or something like that. The ceremony was short and to the point. The reception was at the church. A few of us stayed a couple hours afterwards and helped clean the church after everyone had left. That reminded me of when I worked banquets at the country club. It was nice to know that after this particular wedding, I wouldn’t be working 16 more hours.
After loading up all that we could in the remaining cars that were in the parking lot, we drove over to aunt Barbara’s (cousin Lisa’s mom) to unload. Barbara and I were both wearing flip-flops (sandals, chunklas whichever you prefer). She found a large ant bed on her driveway, right next to where she’d parked. As I came out of the house to come get another load, Barbara said: “Josh, be careful over there… there are a lot of ants on the driveway… don’t step in the ants, Josh!”
I walk towards Barbara’s car. As I walk, I’m singing and bobbing my head to the tune of: “Don’t step in the ants, Josh. There’s ants over by Barbara’s car. Don’t step in the ants, Josh.” I walked over by Barbara’s car, stood there, not having looked down, still singing: “Don’t step in the ants, Josh. “Don’t step in the ants, Josh.” and got bit by the ants. They were all over the place.
I got some bleach from Barbara and fixed myself up. Bleach takes the sting out of ant bites if applied soon enough. After leaving Barbara’s, we drove to Grandma B.’s in Okeene, OK. I rode with Steve in the van and Elise and Joanne rode in the Jeep. Steve and I talked my job and motorcycles.
We made it to Grandma’s at around 8:30 p.m. or so. They saved us a few hamburgers so us stragglers had a late dinner. After dinner we looked at photos of uncle Nob’s new garage. Steve, uncle Richard, uncle Ben, uncle Nob and Eric built a 2.5 car garage in 2.5 days.
Elise and I woke up early on Sunday, had breakfast at Grandma’s and said bye to everyone. We hit the road at approximately 10 a.m.
A trip that would have normally taken 8 hours took 12 hours. Elise and I stopped for lunch at the Two Frogs Grill in Ardmore, OK. Elise had the fried shrimp. I had the short order of baby back ribs. Good food at a really good price.
Elise dozed until we reached south of Dallas. That’s where we stopped. This is what the write up from the Dallas Morning News read this morning:
Three die in fiery I-35 collision
Fatal crash closes highway near Dallas-Ellis border05/19/2003
By JAIME JORDAN and CONNIE PILOTO / The Dallas Morning News
Three people died and a toddler was sent to the hospital Sunday after a fiery wreck involving a tractor-trailer and car on Interstate 35 about 20 miles south of Dallas, near the Ellis County border.
Authorities shut down both north- and southbound lanes of I-35 for nearly eight hours, backing up traffic at one point for up to nine miles to the north.
Police said a Toyota Camry with four people inside collided with another car as traffic was merging onto the highway from the Ovilla Road entry about 2 p.m. The Camry crossed into the median and into the path of an oncoming semi, which slammed into the driver’s side, killing everyone but a 2-year-old boy in a car seat in the rear.
Ellis County DPS Sgt. Larry Adams said officials had not been able to identify the victims but had found insurance documents in the wreckage. Dallas Police were asked to check the address.
“If things match we’ll take them to the hospital to see if they [neighbors] recognize the baby,” he said. “All the identifications were incinerated.”Police said two adults and one person thought to be either an adult or teenager died on impact. Shortly after impact, the car burst into flames. Sgt. Adams said the vehicle was carrying a family.
Rick Sherrin, a truck driver from Lamar, Mo., said he was headed south on I-35 behind the tractor-trailer on his way to Laredo. He stopped his rig in the middle of the highway and ran to the accident site with his fire extinguisher as others rushed to rescue the toddler.
“I was trying to put the fire out so the other people could get the baby,” he said. “The fire was spreading on the grass where they were working.”
The truck involved in the accident was carrying herbicide and had tried to stop before the collision, officials said.
The blaze charred both vehicles, but the driver of the truck and the driver of the second car involved in the original collision were not seriously injured.
Luckily Elise and I were near Jenni’s house. After sitting in 100 + degree traffic for over an hour, we exited and drove to Jenni’s. She told us that there was a report on the news that the accident and gave us an alternate route. We would have never made it home last night had we not made the detour. After leaving Jenni’s and finding I-35 again, we saw over 4 miles of traffic backed up on the northbound side of the highway.
Anyway. We got home a little shy of 10 p.m. I took a shower and went to bed.
It was a very long weekend. I’m really looking forward to some R&R this weekend.