Visiting Viviana before her Deployment to Germany

Living on the road I don't get to see my family as much as I would like, so when the opportunity came up to see my little sister before her deployment I had to take it. Since Bert and I work the same schedule he was unable to travel with me.

I looked into flying but it was going to be $300+ round trip and Bert would have to drive me 3 hours to the airport and 3 hours back home. Greyhound was going to be about $150 round trip but last time I took Greyhound I got extremely sick so that was a no go. Only other option was the train for $110, I had never been on the train so I thought this might be a fun trip to try it out, even if it was going to be a 14 hr ride. At least it was all overnight so I could sleep most of the time. 

The plan was to leave on Thursday and return on Tuesday. After discussing it with Bert  I was only working a half day on Thursday and already had the beginning of the week off. I looked for a earlier train and was able to leave on Monday and return the following Tuesday giving me a full week with family.  

While in Austin I was able to hang out with all of my siblings, something that does not happen very often. My mother made some amazing home cooked meals and I was able to just be with my family. We watched movies, painted and just sat around talking a lot.  

The VFW my family belongs to held a Deployment party for my lil sister. All of my siblings showed up and a group of Soldiers stationed with Viviana came to celebrate with us as well. We ate and drank and had a blast. 

Hope you enjoy the video I made of the time with my family.