I lost my pants in Texas Part 3

Texas. I have to say that people drive fast and crazy in Texas. I was very happy to get there as I knew that my friend was waiting for us and we had a bed to sleep in that night. I was also very excited to visit my friend and her family. It is true: Texas is a very hot place. We crossed to Texas in early morning hours and yet it took us a whole day to get to my friend’s house. By that time, it was around 10pm. During the day it got very hot. It was time to change into some lighter summer wear as the car did not have air conditioning. We stopped at a visitor center, and I went to the bathroom to change my clothes. You are right, this will be the place where I lost my pants in Texas. We are not there just yet. I went to the bathroom and used the family bathroom thinking I can wash up a little before changing. It has been a while since Utah and a nice shower. I also did not want to show up at my friend’s house all sweaty. Everything went fine until I realized that the water faucet did not work in the family bathroom. The soap did. So, I was standing there soaped up with no water. It was one of those moments when you stop in your life and think ok this just happened now what? So, imagine yourself all soaped up in a visitor center’s bathroom and you find out that there is no running water. After a minute I decided soapy or not the only way out of this is to put my dress on and head to the other women’s bathroom hoping that there is not too many people and that the water will be working there. While I was gathering all my clothes there were many thoughts going through my head. I mostly was worrying about bra and underwear and hiding them in my shirt.

I forgot and did not actually realize until we got to Florida that I left my pants in this bathroom in Texas. I wonder what the next person who went in there thought. I hope that someone somewhere got some use out of my pants. The only problem was since we had to pack really light for our way back, I only had one pair of pants. And I lost my only pants. Now, I had tops with nothing to wear it with. Once we got to Florida and I realized that I truly did not have my pants we went to get some new pants for me. Just to let you know, I still have those pants. I have not lost them yet. I have to say my children and my family and friends had got a kick out of me losing my pants in Texas. I am normally a pretty responsible and organized person who does not lose things like their pants. Well, so much for that image.

A good night sleep at my friend’s house was wonderful. We had a nice, relaxing time in Texas. We went out to a great place for breakfast together, watched some trainings and did some weightlifting and did some catching up. Although I had not seen my friend for years, it was just like talking to her yesterday. We had lunch together then hit the road again. Texas was the only place where got stuck in traffic around Huston and our gas started to run low, so we had to get off and gas up. It was a small gas station, but I did not think anything of it. Not until we got to Louisiana and my debit card was declined.

After driving all afternoon, we got hungry and decided to stop at an Italian restaurant in Louisiana. We got some pasta dishes and a salad. It was late, and we had limited choices. We did not want to get too far off the road.

After dinner came the moment to pay for dinner, and I had experienced some very interesting and weird moments with the waitress. Then she brought my card back, and told me that my card was declined. It was one of the many surreal moments I had during this trip. Asked her to please try again, it was declined again, and declined one more time. Luckily, my son had a card with him, and he picked up the tab and the next gas station tab as well. Next morning, I called the bank, and they told me that my gas station transaction in Texas seemed suspicious together with a post office transaction I had a few days ago mailing a package. I thought that was quite interesting. At least my card was reactivated which was important after all. Since at this point, I still did not know that I lost my pants. We drove all night and the next morning we were pretty excited to see signs for Florida. It felt like a home stretch although we still had many miles to go.

Entering into Florida was a relief. It felt like some unbelievable accomplishment. We still had a few hours to go. Being close and having the feeling that we made it was amazing. With all the states we went through Florida had the nicest welcoming center. We even received some grapefruit juice on arrival. We looked around a little, stretched our legs, used the facilities, and hit the road again. I had been in a different part of Florida before for a school event. Most of the time people go to Florida for vacation. This was my second time back and neither event was a vacation. We drove through some beautiful forest lands, got lost a few times and had to wait a little and in the end, we made it to our destination.

We were all exhausted. The last time we slept was in Texas at my friend’s house. It seemed a very long time ago even though it was just a few days before. My daughter was working nights at the time and we had to wake her up, so she was tired as well. Somehow, we managed to get all the things out of the car and move it into her room which was of course on the third floor. With three of us working on it went pretty quick. Then we were talking and next I remember waking up a few hours later. We all had fallen a sleep on my daughter’s bed. We only had a few days to spend in Florida before returning to Oregon and we spent as much time as we could with Andrea. When she was working, we walked around in the area. We discovered a nice path not too far from our hotel in Niceville called Turkey creek.

The trail was a wooden trail along the creek with lush green surrounding and multiple decks where one can get into the water.

The trail itself is about one mile long and we enjoyed walking through and looking for wildlife. We used the opportunity to take shoes off and dip our feet into the creek. It was a nice relaxing time. It kind of seemed surreal that we had just drove through the country in the last few days. The water was clear and warm. We were able to see down to the bottom of the creek. We saw some adorable turtles.

Our last evening in Florida Andras and I walked about 6–7 miles around Niceville, found some parks in the area and hung around. We also found a nice restaurant at a marina and had a wonderful dinner by the water.The next morning, we had to get out to the airport early. My daughter picked us up and we had to say goodbye. It was hard yet it was also a wonderful experience to see her and able to do this crazy thing of driving across the country. The trip on the way back was much quicker of course. We landed in Oregon the same day as we left Florida. I am grateful that we had this experience and hope that I will have the opportunity in the future to go on a road trip when I can spend some more time and get to see some more beautiful places. Nature is really truly amazing and there is always something beautiful to see.

Thank you for joining me and my family on this journey for our crazy fast road trip to Florida. I still can not believe that I had lost my pants in Texas. Well, if any of you are planning a road trip make sure you keep your eyes on your pants. Have a lovely day.

Read another story from Gabriella Here

GK — Edited by Erika Halloran

2/28/2021 — edited 4/1/2021

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