Welcome to the Hotel California. Or, maybe not.

I took a gander at the 10-day weather forecast on Tuesday, and was not surprised to learn that the average high temperature in North Texas this week will be sufficient to roast a chicken in open air.

In fact, the same weather app I have on my phone that got flustered during thunderstorms a few months ago and displayed a huge question mark where the weather conditions were posted, pretty much said “I hope y’all are good with God” in a postscript to this week’s weather.

But I will be escaping Texas for a few days this week– lucky, ill-timed me.

In fact, I’m flying out Thursday to take a road trip through from Las Vegas, Nevada to Texas, because everyone knows the best time to road trip through the desert is when it’s stupid hot at home. On the bright side, it will keep me from getting home sick.

You all know I’m an optimist at heart and there’s always – always – a silver lining, even if that silver lining is the foil over your roasted chicken.

And my beautiful piece of tin foil is this – I’ll be making that road trip with my daughter, son-in-law and grandsons as they move from Las Vegas to San Antonio.

I’m excited for the trip for many reasons, but first because it will be my first road trip with my grandboys, Eli and Jack, and I will have the chance to take a picture with them on a corner in Winslow, AZ with the Eagles song, “Take It Easy” turned to max volume in the background. This is how it looks in my imagination, anyway. This will all be contingent on how far my daughter and her husband’s eyes are rolled back in their head, of course.

After this trip, they will live 15 hours closer to me than they have in several years and I plan on darkening their doorstep a lot, without even buying the obligatory Alamo snow globe.

In the meanwhile, I’ll be working on my “What I Did On My Summer Vacation” essay, which will include hiking at UT Southwestern’s Clements Hospital, fly trapping adventures, and the joy of yardwork, followed by 19 hours in the desert with four of my favorite human beings.

I do love a good road trip in any weather. Stay safe and cool out there as you navigate your summer vacation.