I lost my pants in Texas

Crazy fast road trip across America — If I could be Chapter 4

I recently told a friend about writing this story. She said based on the title she imagined a wandering pair of pants in Texas. I thought that was a great idea. It is true that I do not know where my pants are and what had happened to them. They could be wandering somewhere. I hope someone found them and got a good use out of them. They were a nice pretty new pair of pants. If you do see some wandering blue jeans in Texas please make sure to let me know.

I felt like I should tell you that before this trip I did not like driving at all. Usually, I had to drive to work and I had commuted so much in my lifetime to go to work that I was happy to give up driving any time. I learned a lot during this trip. It was crazy. It pushed my limits and the limits of my son. It was dangerous sometimes. It was also one of the most amazing, interesting, and beautiful things I have done in my life. Things I loved about this trip were going to new places and spending time with my son and with my daughter once we arrived in Florida. I just knew this trip — driving cross country — needed to be done no matter what. We did it, and it will always be one of those crazy experiences that we can tell friends, family and hopefully grandchildren. And of course, you my dear reader.

I want to start by saying I never drove across America before. This is not how I would have planned a trip if I had time. I would have loved to do a nice scenic route with taking my time.

My daughter and I were always planning a cross country trip at some point and the plan was for a slow and enjoyable cruise. We have not had a chance so far to do this. I hope we can still do our trip in the future. For now, well, this trip needed to be done super-fast with not much sleep on the way. Not much is an overstatement. Practically no sleep at all. Can you imagine? Just try to imagine this now. Driving cross country with practically no sleep at all. Well, no sleep might be a little overstatement. We did got some sleep occasionally just not much of it.

Luckily, there were two of us and we drove some, switched seats, then drove again. It was scary sometimes and yet, it needed to be done. My daughter needed her car. I am super grateful that my son was able to come with me. We went through some shady places and slept in some weird parking lots on the way. Truly made me appreciate a bed and nice shower even more. Just after 2 days in a car you just start to stick to things. Stick to the seat, stick to yourself, stick to your clothes. Showers and water are your friend for sure.

The road trip started in Astoria, Oregon and ended in Eglin, Florida. Me and my son did the trip in March of 2019, the goal was to get my daughter’s car to her. My son Andras drove up from Bend, Oregon on a Friday. He arrived in the afternoon and we were not sure if we should leave Friday or have a good night sleep before we left. We both decided that we wanted to get a head start and get there sooner than later. We finished packing my daughter, Andrea’s stuff in the car and decided to leave Friday night.

WE GOT CREATIVE WITH THE PACKING. Even writing this makes me smile. The places we came up with to pack our things and the things we were taking to my daughter were sure interesting. We used vacuum packing and placed things under seats, around the spare tire, under the spare tire, in every pocket available in the car and behind seats. Every space was utilized very well. We packed some snacks and drinks for the road that we hoped would last for a few days. We left Astoria around 10 pm Friday night. It was dark and we were not sure how far we would get that night. We figured it is good to start at night to skip Portland traffic in the morning. We headed out on Highway 30 toward Portland, jumped over to Washington and drove through Longview back to Highway 30 once we hit Oregon again. It is a funny loop, but it is quicker to cross to Washington then come back to Oregon than staying in Oregon. We were not sure about the exact route because there was some flooding happening in the middle of the county. We were just going to decide on the road which way to go. Before the trip, we got advised to stop every two hours or so get out of the car and walk for 10–15 minutes. I think this was very helpful and saved our sanity and lives. We had tried to keep to this routine and stop every few hours to move a little.

We had one week to do the trip. That is all the vacation time I had and the time my son had off from school. The plan was to drive the car to my daughter then stay a few days and fly back to Portland, Oregon. The car for our adventure was a little black Suzuki, 2008 edition.

The car is not sold in the United States anymore, my daughter got it from someone a few years ago and it served her well so far. She has been in Texas then moved to Florida about a month before the trip. We looked at shipping and other options, but it did not work out. It would have been even more expensive than a trip. Also, of course I wanted to see my daughter, since I had not seen her in person for months. I did not want to give up the chance to see her in person. It is way better than seeing her when we talk through social media.

We drove all the time. It seemed that the road would never end. We slept in parking lots and church lots. Whatever relatively safe place we found when we were tired. Most of those times we rested for about 2–3 hours and then got back on the road. We started in Oregon then used Highway 30 /Highway 84 to get to Idaho, Utah followed, then Colorado, New Mexico just for a short while, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama then our final destination Florida. The first few hours of the drive went fine, I think we were both excited to be on the road and had no idea what was waiting for us. At least it did not take me long to get a reality check. The first obstacle was finding bathrooms in the middle of the night and safe places to pull aside. Many bathrooms are closed at night and there are long distances along Highway 30 between such a facilities. It was a great relief when we would find an open bathroom. One of the greatest excitements of a road trip. It is a huge relief when you find water to wash up and find a bathroom to go and do your business in.

Just before we left Oregon when we were driving about a night and a day, we found a nice place by a river that also had a hot spring. We were using our phones and a car navigation system to find the correct route to places. This of course did not work many times. Reception of satellites can get spotty in places as well as phone navigation systems. There were multiple times during our trip that we relied on memory and signs. Well, of course there are multiple ways to get to your next destination. A short way and a long one. We had missed a sign during a time in Louisiana and ended up in New Orleans when we wanted to go around it. It was in the middle of the night. It was dark and we were tired. We had been driving multiple days. None of our navigation systems were working. We got used to the sound of our navigation system saying: “lost connection” and “trying to reconnect”. The mistake added a few more hours to our trip which does not seem a lot now, yet when we been up so many days and were exhausted every minute counted. Back to Oregon.

We decided to stop, walk around the park a little and dip in the water and relax for a while. It was wonderful to get out of the car and rest for a few hours. It was a great combination of hot and cold water that was built out by the local people and it was free to use for everyone. There were multiple pools built with the rocks from the river. Some of the pools were warmer where the spring came in and it got cooler as we got more into the river and the hot spring got mixed with the river water. The water felt wonderful and the environment was beautiful. We had some wonderful conversations with people who were local to the area and some who were just visiting. It was a nice break from driving. If we could have, we definitely would have stayed longer.

After our relaxing hot spring adventure, it was time to get back on the road. We drove a few more hours and by this time, we ate a lot of our snacks and it was getting to be later afternoon. We were getting hungry and wanted a nice, cooked meal and another break. We were close to our next state destination and soon we crossed the Snake River into Idaho. We had relied on our phones and signs on the road to find places to eat and rest.

We found a wonderful place to have dinner with an amazing view of the canyon below. After dinner we walked around a little to stretch our legs, in the path next to the restaurant by the snake river. We saw a poster about a waterfall close by and decided to go and see it. We just found out about the waterfall being close to us in the last minute and hurried up to make it there before it got dark. We literally just got there in time, dusk was already settling in. After we spent a few minutes admiring the view and we saw the beautiful waterfall it was getting pretty dark, so we decided it was time to hit the road again. I think seeing some beautiful places on the way helped us keep our sanity. It was nice to see the waterfall and have a nice meal before getting in the car to continue and drive again. I think those moments kept our motivation and sanity.

Driving in the dark was a better experience when we had the moon helping us. We were lucky in a way that many nights we had a full moon or close to a full moon giving us some help to see the road. In rural America it can get quite dark.

One night when we got to Utah the rain was coming down really heavy, it was dark and around 11pm. We both decided we were exhausted and could not keep going anymore. We found a hotel close by and spent the night. We woke up the next day to the most beautiful scenery that I had seen. We were surrounded by snowy mountains. I remember that both of us were glued to the beds. My son looked like a burrito covered with bedding. We did not want to get up yet knew we had to get on the road and keep going.

Colorado was also beautiful. There were lots of Mountains and roads that scared us in the middle of the night in the snow and freezing cold. We were not prepared for the cold and the snow in the middle of the night. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. We ended up in the top of the Colorado mountains in the middle of the night. It was dipping below 20 degrees Fahrenheit and we had no winter clothes, no place to stop. Visibility was almost zero. Luckily after a while we come across an area where there was light and a place to put the snow chains on. I had never put one of those things on before and I was sure glad that my son was with me. It took a little time, and it was cold out and we did not have gloves. We did not have a lot of choices but to keep going. Luckily, we were doing OK on gas. We stopped every time and filled up just as the tank got to half. We did not want to be stranded anywhere.

New Mexico was a pretty quick part of our trip compared to other places. We just cut through the corner of the state before we ended up in Texas. It was certainly getting warmer and the scenery was changing. The climate is more dry.

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.

GK — Edited by Erika Halloran

2/28/2021 — edited 4/1/2021

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