Adios Donna!

We woke up after about 3 1/2 hours of sleep at 5:30. The alarm was actually set for 5 a.m. and although I heard it, I was like forget you....I'm still sleepy. As for our friend the rooster, no signs of him this morning - maybe he was dead!

We finally got up and started getting everything together to leave. Ruth, Rebecca and Liz and I jumped in the truck and pulled out of my dad's.

As had been the custom since day one and today not obviously being the exception - guess what? Yup, you guessed it - it was STILL RAINING!

We pull out of Champion Street and head North down 483 (Salinas Blvd) with Albert following closely behind. I pull unto Highway 83 and head West with our next exit being Edinburg - N281- back towards civilization and home as we knew it.

Trying to get out of the valley would prove to be quite a feat as for some reason, it must have enjoyed our stay as much as we hated it, that it didn't want to let us go. I say this because right before we entered Edinburg, we were confronted by a terrible downpour.

The rain was so bad, you could hardly see the road - literally, I could barely see the white lines. People were pulling off to the side and I started to think if maybe I should do the same. At that point, we got a call from Albert and he said as long as I could see the road and felt sure about driving, he would follow behind. So I thought, like heck that I'm going to get stuck here when I've had enough - I'm outa here.

The downpour stint last about maybe at the most 15 minutes or so then it was all over. I was so glad I did not decide to pull over to the side of the road as I probably would have been there the entire day - I heard later that it rained that way all day on Monday in the valley.

The trip back was pretty uneventful and quiet. This thanks to us missing a BIG part of our caravan crew - none other than Sydney poo! I really missed my little brat and wished if only once she was there in the truck to tell me, "Ma, ma, ma, to which I would answer que quieres Sydney (what do you want?) and she'd answer, baby." This mind you, continuing on with no end in sight.

We finally arrived HOME at around 1:30 - did some great time even considering the horrible start to our departure. I was so glad and I think even my truck was - it hadn't been dry for days.

To sum up this mini adventure of 5 days in Donna, all I have to say is I'm proud I didn't get a rare rash from the red rubies, managed to keep my stomach in good spirits considering some incidents, and still smelled quite nice regardless of all the rain we took in, I could have smelled like a little wet dog.

Even knowing what I would endure, I would do it ALL over again - it was all well worth it and it definitely created some good stories to tell!

Hope you enjoyed! With the omission of some embarrasing stints, this is basically the way my mini vacation occured through my eyes! (I am working on getting some great pics to go along with the stories and I think you'll enjoy).