Monday, June 25, 2007

The Highway 83 Adventure

Richard and I are notorious for leaving for a long destination at a ridiculously late time of the day. So, just like us, we left Uvalde yesterday evening about 6:30. Of course our parents do not like this, but I think both sets have grown accustomed to the fact. I see it as a compliment to them; we don't want to leave because we are having so much fun! Anyway, we get on the road after filling up and everything is fine. We have 2 dogs, a laptop, hanging clothes, snacks, and a bag full of computer equipment in the back seat, and our suitcases, golf clubs and Rich's bike in the bed of the truck. We're off. We get 2o miles South of Abilene, Tuscola, Texas to be precise and decide to pull over because it has started to POUR and we figure our stuff is drenched in the bed. We pull into Allsup's under the gas pumping area, Rich goes inside and I take the dogs out for a quick potty break while the rain has dissipated a bit. As I'm coming back to the truck, I notice that the passenger-side front tire is WAY low...I'm talking the truck is tipping to one side. So, I tell Rich when he returns and he gets some info from the cashier; there is a pull-through car was about 1 1/2 miles down the road and there is air there we can use to fill up the tire.

By this time it is 11:00 p.m. and we're beat down from this weekend's festivities during my high school reunion. So, we start on our way to the car wash. This town is like many small, Texas ones; stretches far right down the highway and there is farmland between major parts. So, we think we have missed the car wash, but we haven't...whew. We get there, pull in and Rich pumps some air into the tire. When he stops, there is a definite hissing sound coming from one side, and he decides the hole is too big to try to drive in to Abilene. He then proceeds to try to get under the truck. Well, it is now literally a TORRENTIAL rain, complete with lightning and some of the loudest slaps of thunder I've ever heard (when I told Rich that, he said, "that's because it hit right there" and he points to just behind the car wash...yikes)! On top of all of this we see our luggage in the back end is completely soaked...I mean water standing on top of it AND to complicate things further, Richard hurt his back really badly loading/unloading tables this weekend. So, he finally gets under the truck only to find the previous owner put an after market lock on the spare and didn't give Rich the key when he bought the truck. We tried every key on his keyring, to no avail. SO, he did the only thing he could; he disassembled the thing. I told my mom and she said, "I didn't know you could disassemble a lock besides with bolt cutters." Well, mom, you can and he did. He FINALLY gets the tire free, jacks the truck up, and gets the spare on. Thank the Lord above the spare was good...it only had 15 lbs of air in it, but after filling it up, it was great. We were finally on our way again...it was now past 12:30 and we still had at least 3 hours if not longer to drive. We drove on in a continual downpour and figured our clothes wouldn't be ruined by a little rain and if we had to buy new luggage...C'est la vie (my sister-in-law totally told me how to spell C'est, b/c I had no idea)!
So, we are discussing our little adventure as we head on to home and Richard says he doesn't think there could be one more situation thrown into the pot...pouring rain, flat tire, late at night, hurt back, luggage in the bed of the truck, locked spare. I thought about it and came up with only one...thank goodness we didn't have babies in the back seat (well real ones, not puppy babies). I literally just sat in the truck and ate snacks while Richard worked...not that I didn't offer assistance and gave it when he needed me to, but babies would have been miserably bored and tired.

So, that is our adventure up Highway 83 last night/this morning. We finally pulled into the garage right at 3:30 and left EVERYTHING in the truck until today. We slept until 11:00 this morning and then Rich went to work.
As we pulled out of that car wash, I turned to Rich and said, "Baby, if I had to be trapped in a run-down car wash in the middle of nowhere with only two bottles of water, some crackers and a flat tire, I wouldn't want to be with anyone else but you."

That one earned me a smooch.

6 comments:

  1. It's not just your parents that worry about you guys driving cross-country so late at night - your siblings are right there with them!!! Glad you made it - is that the latest you've ever gotten home from one of these drives? I hope so...

    Two things:
    -I am dying to see pics of the reunion!
    -It's c'est la vie...I took lots of French in high school.

    Miss you guys!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I knew that wasn't right...you took French and I heard Spanish..se? Much more Spanish, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ames...I changed it! Ha! But I gave you all the credit!

    Yes, that is the latest we've ever gotten home, and I am going to get pictures from other people from the reunion...I didn't get many! But, I will post them as soon as I do.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I took French in high school, Spanish in college. Now my brain likes to mix them!

    Also, next time we get together I'd like to see the slideshow that you all got to take home! What a neat party favor!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like a fun adventure!

    ReplyDelete

Comment away, y'all!