We were  home for Christmas but had a short trip planned to visit family. We left on Christmas day thinking we would get a jump-start on the driving and arrive early on Monday to visit with my parents, brother and sister-in-law. We had an easy 5-6 hour drive planned for Monday morning.

We got a bit later start than we wanted but figured we would still arrive early afternoon in plenty of time for dinner. As we went Siri was giving us directions. Around noon we started to get crash reports that were farther south from Google Maps. Uh, oh.

We kept thinking the accidents will be cleared up by the time we get there. We still had almost 2 hours before we neared them. Remember 2 hours. This was the theme of the day.

About 2 pm we notice that there are still two accidents with delays of over an hour each and no alternative route given. We were near Beckley, West Virginia, and decided this would be a good point for lunch. We could get a sit down meal, get gas and let the people get the highway cleared up before we headed back out.

Lunch was good we were all in a good mood after a nice 45 minute stop. We pull back on the highway to 4 new accident reports. Ugh. We are still moving so we keep going. From exit 45 to exit 1 in West Virginia we went less than 5 miles an hour most of the way. Almost 2 to 2 1/2 hours to drive 45 miles. The worse was the fog. Thick awful fog.

At one point we would ask Siri – “How much longer until the traffic clears up on our route?” Her answer – “Two hours.”

Fifteen minutes later – “How much longer until the traffic clears up on our route?” Her answer – “Two hours.”

Forty-five minutes later – “How much longer until the traffic clears up on our route? Her answer – “Two hours.”

We were convinced they were moving North Carolina farther and farther south.

Well, we had thought we would be to family by 3:00 pm when we started the day. Then we thought it would be closer to 5:30 pm. By the time we were leaving West Virginia we thought 7:00 pm. Then when we hit an accident in Statesville, NC we gave up. We were crawling along at 3 mph. We called and said we would see them the next day.

We were all over tired and wanted out of the car now! The kids had been really good keeping themselves occupied but tempers were getting short and they could only watch so many videos, sing so many songs and sleep so much before they were bored.

We arrived at the hotel at 9:30 pm. What should have been a nice little 5-6 hour drive turned into a 11 hour Twilight Zone episode. We were happy to have arrived safely but sad we missed half a day with family. We are hoping our drive home is much calmer and less stressful!

If you are traveling this week I wish you clear, dry roads, and sunshine!