Saturday morning was spent blissfully enough. Travis had football practice, Cole whined about the lack of college football on our "basic cable" channels, Kevin went across to Gallagher to help line soccer fields. It was "hoodie" weather, which I personally look forward to, although I rarely wear a hoodie because I sweat like...well...like something that sweats a lot. Our plan was to leave around 1:30 PM for a 2 hour drive to Huntington, to attend a 4:00 game. Cole was pushing the 1:30 departure time in order to get him to his sister's dorm in time for a 3:30 kick-off for the U of M game. Already, my "perfect family" facade is showing it's cracks. Cole only cared about football, not his beloved oldest sister's soccer game.
Kevin asked to be the man (which means he wanted to be the driver). I allowed him to be (which, if anyone is paying attention means I am actually in control, therefore the "man" in the biblical sense:-)). The worse part of the drive to Huntington University (30 minutes west of I-69 near Ft Wayne) is the first half hour driving down M-60 to get to I-69. It is a two lane road, usually populated by slow drivers who are, clearly, not in a hurry to get to the kick off of a U of M game in a dorm in Indiana.
Kevin decided to pass two cars while driving a long M-60. I was a little nervous, even though I am an aggressive driver myself. This particular pass seemed a bit risky. But, he made it. We both agreed later that we heard a loud noise when he pulled back into our lane in front of the other drivers, who we shall blame for this episode, so we can feel better about ourselves. We continued cruising along and were on I-69 just south of Coldwater (which is highly populated and would have been a great place to notice the problem). I must admit that when Kevin first mentioned that he thought the van was driving funny I laughed at him inside my head. I have determined through our years of marriage that my husband (I love him dearly) is a pessimist. He is who "Murphy's laws" were written for. So, whenever he is behind the wheel of the van he determines that it "isn't driving right" for some reason. I usually scoff at him and say, "whatever" (also in my head to avoid ugliness). But, as we went just a bit further (again, away from a metropolis that would have proved very useful in our predicament) I had to agree that the van was NOT driving well. It was shaking like Shakira. It's hips were definitely not lying. We drove to the next exit, which was in the middle of nowhere (seriously, there was a sign that said, "this would be the worse possibly place to have any kind of vehicle failure...okay, that is not 100% true but it is effectual in protraying our situation well).
With no surprise, we found our right front tire to be quite flat. We were, however, surprised to find we did not have a spare. We called 911 (because what else do you do?..."911 what is your emergency? "Well, it's more of a "hardship" than an emergency really..." A tow truck was called and we began the waiting process.
Here stands KDB, calmly processing our situation. He later said he blamed himself for being impatient on M-60, so I thought this picture spoke volumes:-)
I walked across the street with "Midge" (my camera if you're following) to a small, old cemetery. I found a grave stone of a man named Boaz who was born in the 1700's and died before the Civil War. Being a history geek, I thought that was interesting. I also found a gravestone that was broken in two. It made me think about the fact that the only lasting thing we can truly leave on this earth is our legacy. Nothing else is permenant
Erin and Travis entertained themselves in the van by playing the new game "Ninja".
We realized that the tow truck was not exactly being rushed to us so we decided to explore the area and found that about 1/2 mile down the country road was a gas station. Potty breaks and snacks were in order so we all trudged down there as Kevin waited for the "tow truck of salvation". When the truck arrived, the only option was to load Clifford up and drive back up to Coldwater to the Wal-Mart for a new tire. I thought the back of the tow truck was prophetic.
We have had experiences with being towed before and knew that our whole family would not fit in the tow truck to be hauled back to Wal-mart...we knew we would be stuck at the gas station for the duration. So we loaded up on healthy snacks...
...and began the waiting process. Thank goodness for Ipods, cell phones, and trash cans to go all "ninja" on.
After about an hour and a half at the gas station, (with regular updates from KDB at Wal-mart on both the progress of the tire and the U of M score), we decided to head back to the spot where we had started so Kevin could pick us up from there to head south to Huntington. First some pictures were in order to document our glorious afternoon in what I found out was Kinderhook Township.
Kevin returned to pick us up and we headed south to a game we would be too late for. Samantha scored a goal that we missed but, by all accounts, it wasn't a very interesting game. We arrived at our hotel just as my updater (Thanks Toni:-)) text me to say "game over".
In the past, a situation like this, would have been cause for bad attitudes and "why me" moments. But, everyone handled the day with a lot of "grace under fire" and, if not pleasant, than atleast tolerable attitudes. When it comes right down to it, Norman Rockwell's got nothing on the Barclays:-)
Adventures like these never get old! They tell us about character in the face of adversity and they tell us that life is really about choices! Keep up the good work, Jill!
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