SURPRISE!

This weekend Dallas and I decided to drive down to Georgia to surprise his mom, Becky, for her birthday. We weren't able to be home on Mother's Day, and felt that now was as good as a time as ever to see our families. We hadn't been home since Easter, which had been the longest we had been without going home since we moved to Virgina in August. Bottom line- we missed our families and wanted to go home.

So, what a perfect opportunity to be a little adventurous and surprise Becky!

I worked late Tuesday night so I would be able to leave early on Friday and begin our drive to Georgia. We left Lynchburg around 2:45 pm, and we headed south, full of excitement! The drive home always comes with its challenges, and this trip was no exception.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that our car has no air conditioning. That's right. We drove for 7 hours, in 85 degree weather, with no AC. Call me crazy.

For the first few hours of our trip. It was HOT. I mean H-O-T! And this girl does not like to be hot. I changed out of my work clothes while driving out of the Liberty parking lot- much to Dallas' dismay- but this did not seem to help much. The sun seemed to follow me around each turn of the 600 mile highway and I was sure I was going to be FRIED.

I rigged up my work shirt for a make-shift curtain, to shield me from the blazing sun. This helped a little.

It really helped when these guys would drive next to us, creating a shadow on our car.

 Thank you FritoLay man!

Oh, did I mention that there was a NASCAR race in Charlotte, which caused back-to-back traffic that we were lucky enough to be stuck in for over an hour? Lovely.

After what seemed like hours of roasting, a storm began to appear on the horizon. Great. What are we going to do if it rains? We will have to roll up the windows and then I really will die from the heat.

...AND it continued to get worse and worse...

Dallas might as well have dropped me off at that hospital, because I was sick of this drive!

Then, it started to rain. It was POURING rain. Many cars pulled over onto the side of the road, and there were even groups of people huddled under bridges. Notice the GPS reads 0.0 mph.

 My LEAST favorite speed.

Dallas and I decided to stop by a McDonald's for dinner. Dallas wanted to eat at the restaurant, but I was DYING to get home....so we took our food to go and headed back into the heard of traffic.

I will now show a montage of the remainder of this wonderful car ride...

We ended up driving through FOUR thunderstorms that night. FOUR. I saw lightening like I've never seen in my life. I tried to snap a photo of the lightening- but I'm not quite quick enough.

We finally arrived at Dallas' parents' house at 10:15pm. Our original DTA was 8:50 pm. Thank you thunderstorms and NASCAR. I was so nervous about out great surprise and I made Dallas turn his lights off and park at the very end of the Loewen's driveway. We got out of the car and quietly snuck up to the front door. Dallas rang the doorbell and seconds later, Jim, Dallas' dad, opened the door and let us in. Becky was sitting on the couch and screamed in delight when she saw us. (I took pictures of this, but Becky deleted them, as she felt she didn't look blogworthy.) I seriously was so nervous that my knees were knocking together. Ha!

The remainder of the weekend was filled with fun, food and family. All of my favorite things!

Overall, we had a fabulous weekend and it was wonderful spending time with those we love. Becky was surprised and we enjoyed time with my parents too! And guess what?

There was no traffic at all on the way home.