The Drive Home (last week)

So as most of you know (or know by now), Tyler and I went on vacation to California for 10 days in the middle of June, and we drove back home last Saturday.

And what should have been an 11.5-hour drive turned into a 16-hour excursion. And Tyler and I learned quite a bit.

What happened was this:

Our nephew Austin and our niece Kylie were following us back from California to Utah so they could go to EFY. Austin is a newer driver, so we didn't drive as quickly as we normally would (aka less speeding, especially for yours truly). Truly, driving a little more slowly was not that big of a deal. We stopped every couple hours (mostly because I needed to use the restroom that frequently thanks to Baby H)--and that really made the drive feel like it was going by a little faster, and a lot easier.

Austin, by the way, is a fantastic driver. I want to compliment him especially, because he had to drive the whole way himself--he was driving a manual car, and neither Tyler or I are capable of doing that. So, super props to Austin for driving the whole way.

Austin's car, on the other hand, was not as up to making the drive as Austin was.

About an hour away from home (at 9:00 PM MST), Austin had to pull his car over because he could no longer control it. Turns out a couple of bolts in the wheel fell out (Austin can give you better details than I can) and the car absolutely could not be driven any further.

We pulled over as well, turned on our hazards, and went to see what we could do for Austin.

But here's the thing, not only were our hazards on, so were our lights (because it was getting dark and we were in an 80-MPH zone). And our car battery ran out of juice.

So then we were really stuck. (And I had to go to the bathroom.)

We made a few phone calls, made arrangements for Austin's uncle to meet us in the nearest town (Scipio), called someone to come jumpstart our car, drove to Scipio, left Austin's car on the side of the highway, and played the waiting game till Austin's uncle could drive down to us from Pleasant Grove.

Sounds simple, right? Well, it mostly was, except that the whole process took us about three hours to get on the road again. And we were waiting on the highway for help to come till around 11:30.

But help did come. His name was Joe from A-1 Independent n Towing. (His website, should anyone want to look at it is towinginfillmore.com.) Joe was very friendly and very helpful. He waited with us for a while to make sure that our car, at least was juiced up enough and ready to drive back home. Truly, he was just what we needed--friendly and efficient service. (Everyone should take time to say a little prayer of gratitude for Joe and pray that his business picks up.)

And even though Austin's car and our car both ended up having car trouble, no one got hurt. And no one was too hungry (mainly me) because we had packed snacks (apple slices soaked in lime juice--my favorite!) and sandwiches. We had plenty of water.

And thanks to Jill, we had a small, but very powerful flashlight. It ended up being a lifesaver (because when we got stranded, it was at night).

So, lessons we learned:

1) Make sure you have a flashlight (and extra batteries) when you go on a road trip. We didn't need (or have) the extra batteries, but we could have easily ended up needing them.

2) Pack snacks. Not just so you can avoid gas station food or fast food, but so that if you are stranded, you can avoid being in a stressful situation and hungry. Or with low blood sugar. Or just uncomfortable.

3) Make sure all cell phones are totally charged before beginning the trip, and avoid excessive use of said cell phones along the way. (Even if you have a car charger. Because if you run out of car battery, your phone will, too.) Luckily we all had cell phone power the whole time, but both Tyler and Austin's phones were running out of juice by the end of the night.

4) DO NOT overpack your car. We were hauling back gifts for me and McKenna from our awesome baby shower in CA. Plus our luggage. Our trunk was totally packed full, and so was our back seat. When push came to shove, we could have fit Kylie and Austin in our car--if Austin held our suitcases in his lap, and if Kylie were squished between the door and the cooler. But when we needed to get into our trunk to get our car jack out, it was a mess of baby stuff we had to dig through. And being so full added to the frustration. Not a whole lot, but a little.

5) If you do have to pull over and put on your hazards, make sure the only lights going are your hazards. Or alternatively, leave your car running.

6) Make sure you gas up as frequently as you can. We were gassing up every couple of hours (every time we stopped) so when our car died, we still had plenty of gas in the car. Which was good because once we got our car started, we weren't sure if the battery would stay juiced up if we turned the car off. (Normally it should have, but our battery may not have.) So while we waited for Austin and Kylie's uncle to show up, our car sat idling in the Flying J parking lot. After being jump started, and waiting for the uncle to come, our car probably ran for about an hour without actually going anywhere. (Turns out, we had to buy a new battery this past week. Ours was just too old and out of juice.)

7) Caravaning can be dangerous--I see that now, though I didn't really understand why people would say so before this trip. I probably spent more of my time driving looking in my rearview mirror to check on Austin than I did watching the road and the cars in front of me. No joke. Luckily, traffic was never too bad (except in Vegas), so we never ran into any problems there.

8) If you have to teach Sunday School the day after you return from vacation, just plan to not be there and call a substitute instead of hoping you won't get stranded somewhere and that you'll make it in time. We easily could have not made it back home Saturday night--especially if anything else had gone wrong, and I did not have anyone to call to sub for me. So even though I had prepared the outline of my lesson, I hadn't gotten to flesh it out, and my poor class got to see me--exhaustedly, and not entirely coherently--teach a lesson about relying on the Lord.

But thankfully, everything worked out. We made it home in one piece, Austin and Kylie were able to get their car fixed AND make it to EFY. All the shower gifts were delivered unharmed.

So all's well that ends well. (Though there were plenty of lessons learned.)