the third installment...

 I know you've been waiting for this:

Honeymoon, part 3 dealing with The Rio Grande, quicksand and running out of gas.

We spent another day at Big Bend National Park enjoying the desert landscape and strolling barefoot on the beach along the Rio Grande.  I’ve since been told that the Rio Grande can be a raging river at certain times of the year, but having crossed the Mississippi on our Honeymoon drive, I continued to be underwhelmed. 

Until the river tried to get its revenge.  As we strolled along the sandy shore, I saw a clear shallow pool of water and decided to rinse my feet off. I dipped one foot in and suddenly found my leg sinking deep into the water.  It was the strangest feeling, there simply was no bottom.  Happily, my quick-witted new spouse still loved me and pulled me out. 

Not long after that we started our long drive back to Indiana, looking forward to our newly rented apartment and the delivery of some furniture after we got home.  My husband had actually spent the night before our wedding in the apartment after accepting delivery of our new bedroom furniture and getting things set up. 

All went smoothly until somewhere in Illinois.  I don’t think Illinois likes me.  You may remember that was the state where I got my first speeding ticket.  It’s also the state where I got turned around on the Dan Ryan Expressway, but that’s a story for another time.  I wasn’t driving and I don’t know why my husband wasn’t paying attention to the gas gauge but suddenly there we were, stopped at the side of the interstate, out of gas.  Happily, we had passed an exit with gas stations less than two miles back.  While he walked back to get gas, I sat in the car, windows wide open (still no AC) and wrote thank you notes for wedding gifts.  I don’t know why I thought I would have time on my honeymoon to write thank you notes, but I had brought along the list and the note cards and I passed the time productively. 

Every summer after that for 37 summers we took a driving trip, gradually adding kids and dogs to the adventures and eventually seeing all 48 of the contiguous states.  A truly grand tradition.