Snowed In - Amarillo

We were headed to Amarillo, Texas for a night stop before we started really heading home. The plan was to be home by Thanksgiving. We entered New Mexico late morning and it was looking just about the same as that corner of Colorado we just left. The snow had slowed and everything became even more flat. At the time I was happy to get out of the high elevations. The highlight was we did pass a volcano. From afar Finnley was like “look at that hill, it looks like a volcano.” And then I looked on the atlas and it turned out that it was one. We stared as we passed along.

We reached Texas in the early afternoon and boy was everything looking increasingly drab as we headed east. It was overcast and the whole place just looked grey. I almost started regretting my decision to head home. However, we kept on moving. We hit this cute little road that was more rural that had some pretty desert trees lining it on the last stretch into Amarillo. We reached there about mid-day and found a motel nearby to stay at. I believe it was another Quality Inn type place. 

As we parked our car in their parking lot the snow began to burst from the sky. It was coming in fast and full. We checked into the hotel and went to our room. We looked for somewhere to eat and relaxed. Thirty minutes later when we left for dinner the ground was already white. I was scared to drive, but it was about time we had sushi again so we went on.

The highway was ok at first, but up ahead it already looked like there were cop cars and car accidents. We got off at our exit and went searching for Young Sushi. We missed a turn and Finnley tried to catch it with a quick turn and my car started sliding across the road. Ahhhhhhh! Most stressful shit ever. I was freaking out, but luckily there weren’t any cars around so he was able to get control back without hitting anything. I was trying to explain to him how freaked out I was and he said something like calm down and so I had to scream at him “Easy for you to say; It’s not your vehicle!!” 

I must say as much as I love the landscape of the high altitude places and the places that get colder in the U.S. nothing gives me mental breakdowns like the cold and its subsequent conditions. Anyways we did end up making it to Young Sushi and it was very delicious, but the whole time I couldn’t shake the lingering terror of the drive back to the motel.

We determined that by the looks of the highway when we got off that we should take the back roads. We ended up passing a liquor store, so Finnley got some beer. I much preferred this route. It took us through an old section of Amarillo that was interesting because we ended up on the old Route 66, which we both always wanted to go on. I was in a rancid mood from the stress though so when I went to take a picture of the Route 66 sign and missed and it was blurry I about threw myself out the car with rage. To top it all off as we went to pull into the motel parking lot Finnley was going too fast and almost missed it, again sliding my car. We ended up having to go through the exit to get in.

I knew we were going to be stuck here another day and I just couldn’t bear the fact. I couldn’t bear being trapped and somewhere that wasn’t even that interesting to me. Nothing made me feel better. So when we reached the room I had to call the mama to take me outside myself. After that I felt a lot better and was able to compose myself and apologize to Finnley for be a meanie.

Considering the night was turning around I was ready for my soda. Finnley and I went to go get it from the vending machine that was at the back of the hotel… outside. Upon our arrival we discover the damn thing only takes change and we didn’t have enough on us. So we go back to the room, Finnley is feeling pretty toasty from the beer at this point and is swearing he had enough quarters in the room. Upon arrival he does not.

We have to go to the car. I had already given up at this point, but Finnley is determined. He goes to the car, retrieved his phone charger which he also needed, but no change. I tell him just forget it, but he is being dramatic and feels bad. Somewhere during all of this Finnley decided it would be a good idea to go on this little adventure without shoes… in the snow… in like 20 or below degree weather.

We finally muster up enough change and go and try again. Finnley’s hoping and jumping and squealing in pain from the cold. I’m laughing and telling him he deserves it. When we get there and try again our nickels and dimes keep falling out…apparently the damn thing actually only takes QUARTERS! So once again we head to the car, but we don’t have the keys for the car or... the hotel room! I asked Finnley more than once if he had them before we left and he swore he did. So much for that. Now he had to stand outside in the freezing snowy cold with no shoes on while I went and told the concierge my lovely story.

I get back with the keys and we go inside. Finnley told me we didn’t have any more quarters in the car and I’m thinking what the hell I just had a bunch of change where did it go? Finally I remember where all the change went and it was in the hotel room the whole time. Mother of god. We finally go get my soda after about 45 minutes worth of shenanigans, Finnley still shoeless and people saw him this time too. By the way the soda wasn’t delicious enough to be worth that. The rest of the night we just hung out and watched TV until we fell asleep.

In the morning we woke up kind of late and almost missed the complimentary breakfast. Before we got there we went outside and I saw my car and OMG! It had at least 5 inches of snow on the top of it and the bottom was lined with dirty frozen slush. I had never seen anything like it. I freaked out and went around kicking the slush off the bottom as Finnley was yelling at me. I finally pulled myself away and we made it there right before they put it all away and Finnley had a biscuit and gravy and I made myself a Texas shaped waffle LOL only Texas. 

Some of the other motel occupants were still there all discussing if they were going to risk the road conditions. Some did, but we booked another night. We returned to the room and basically lounged around and watched TV. I did a catch up on my blogging and we got stuck watching the show where they take unruly teens to jail to scare them for a couple hours.

When afternoon came around we got hungry and went out to get some food. We settled on a nearby Arby’s. We sat inside and ate our food and the two workers bickered about every last thing to each other as they prepared to close the place early due to weather conditions. It was pretty funny to watch. We went back to the motel and relaxed until dinner when we left again. We decided to try another close by sushi restaurant because the other one was closed on Sundays. It was good and cheap too. When we left we took an unexpected drive around Amarillo looking for an open liquor store, but apparently none of them are open on Sundays either. We drove around for about 30 minutes before we found a gas station. 

We got back to the motel right on time to watch the premiere of Freaks of Nature on the weather channel. It was amazing. We went to bed that night with plans of leaving the next morning. We had a long way to go. We woke up the next morning, had our breakfast and were on the road once again. At check out the man concierge told me that some of the people who left the previous day actually ended up turning around and coming back. After that I was glad we made the decision to stay. The roads were looking pretty good now and I was excited to almost be home. 

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