I'm not in Houston, so its actually 12 hours/816 miles/in my '07 coupe (not that there is anythign wrong with that)

the biggest issue with driving would be the fact i would drive down immediately after work and not get there til ohh about 6am,... then get up at 10am for football and then stay up late that night probably then go back to chicago on sunday...no fun.

i would most likely fly, i just have to figure out traveling dates. i have enough for a FF ticket, but since its closer to thanksgiving they start jacking up the number of miles it takes to get a ticket... i'm working on it right now...

oh, and no PTO days to take for work...(i'm using them all over christmas/fall TOD run...i think)