The response I get from most when I tell them we drive to Florida, is, Are You Crazy??? And we do it most times in 27 hours of strait driving. I always feel a wee bit crazy by 2a.m. on the drive down. I am thinking, what the heck? Why? Why? And then daylight dawns, we stop at Mickey Dees, and life is good.
This year gave us a wee bit more crazy on the way down.
At 4a.m., just outside of D.C., I was sitting in the back seat of the van, and thought it smelled "hot". And then the thumping began. I said, what IS that noise? A truck? As Carl was driving he felt the steering shift a bit, and realized, Whoa, that sound is the tire. We were on the 495, just north by feet from an exit outside of Kensingston. We could not make it off the exit. 3 lanes of traffic, he pulled over to the right side of the interstate. Definitely a flat tire. Back left tire. Right under where I was sitting. Of course I smelled something, it was the tire.
We proceeded to call AAA roadside. Now, this is when the fun begins. That DAY was when the AAA roadside expires. at noon. Fortunately it is 4 a.m. of the day. So AAA comes. Apparently in vans, the dummy tire is between the seats, hanging only by a bolt, which of course, in the Maine elements has rusted to a frozen position. Being the auto experts that both Carl and I are, we did not even know we had a dummy tire. So, now the problem is 6 people cannot fit in the tow truck. It is now 5a.m. So, AAA guy calls for a long cab tow truck to pick us up and take us to a tire place that is open 24 hours. The same type of tow truck arrives, 1 HOUR later. Apparently the needed vehicle got lost in translation......so a taxi cab is ordered, another 1/2 hour wait.
Let us just say at this point I am feeling like the whole world is incompetent. Are we the first family on the face of the planet who has a flat tire while traveling at 4 a.m. with a van full of people? I guess so. I guess we were the trial run guinea pig family to figure out how AAA towing works.
Taxi cab comes, Daniel does NOT want to get into it for some reason. He is not a fit thrower. And he pitches the biggest fit of his entire life. Carl and Kristen hop into the original tow truck as I am trying to stuff him into the backseat of this taxi. His legs are flailing, kicking, NO NO NO, and the guy in the front seat is saying, well you are going to have to buckle him, I am like, RIGHT BUDDY. We all look like homeless people, disheveled and dazed, and boy am I so glad I drank nothing after 12 noon at this point on the previous day. I force him into the taxi, Elizabeth and her friend Sharon are in the taxi as well. None of us knows what to make of this screaming kid. I am thinking, how great to be 2. I want to scream and kick like that because that is exactly HOW I feel after sitting waiting in that van for 2 and 1/2 hours.
We make it to the tire place, it does not open until 7:30a.m. We are informed that if we were going to break down we picked one of the few nice neighborhoods in D.C. to break down outside of. Good thing, as we are waiting outside for over 30mins until the place opens up. But, the sun is shining, Daniel is running back and forth between all the girls, and we get in. That will be 30 mins. to get those tires on (we have to purchase 2). An HOUR later, I am pacing. Okay, this is officially sucking. It is now 8:30a.m. If you know anything about traveling you know every minute counts, let alone every hour. WE travel through the night to avoid places like NYC and D.C. and the George Washington Bridge in daylight, because, well, get stuck in any one of those places and you will NEVER do it again.
We roll out of the tire place at around 8:45a.m. Time for Breakfast. We find a McDonalds, eat, and are on our way. We are looking at a 5 HOUR delay at this point. 5 HOURS! I don't even want to think about it, as it is hard enough to be in a car from 3p.m. on Friday until 6:30p.m. on Saturday.
Gridlock in D. C. greets us.
And that is when we all had to make a choice.
We had to stop saying how much this all SUCKED royally.
We had to stop saying, WHY did this happen?
We had to stop looking at that Garmin that said we would not be arriving till well after our projected arrival time.
This was a real lesson in attitude.
What do you do when you know a situation will be prolonged beyond the point you already don't think you can bear?
What do you do when, to the best of your ability you have planned, made sure all things were in operating order so that something unforeseen would not happen?
What do you do when others are relying on you, and you feel just as horrible as they do?
And, add a 2 and 1/2 year old into this mix. Add a young one into anything will start a party that's for sure.
And so, we traveled on, stopping when we needed to, made sure Daniel had his breaks to run a bit, and we made it Kissimee, Florida at 12:30a.m.Sunday morning.
Because of the extra sleep time in the van, Daniel was not ready for bed. We all showered, munched on goodies that had been packed, and went to bed around 2:30a.m.
No one was complaining. We had made it to Florida. For the first time ever, I did not get out of bed until 8:30a.m. In the history of Daniel's entire life I have NEVER been in bed at 8:30a.m. 6 strait hours of sleep and I felt refreshed. and so did Carl.
And we headed to the pool.
And the week went on with trips to Sea World, Aquatica Water Park, friends visiting, enjoying the resort we always stay at, and Dominos pizza, my favorite new pizza. Oh, and never eat Chinese food in Florida, it is just plain gross. And I turned 45 years old in Florida. And the ride back went without a hitch whatsoever.
Were we watched over by angels? I believe yes.
Could that blow out tire been A lot worse? Absolutely.
Could our whole trip been ruined by foul attitudes, talking incessantly about how horrible the trip down was? yes. Was it? NO! Wasn't even mentioned.
It all boils down to choice.
How will I choose to respond when things do not go my way?
How will I choose to respond, even when my negative response is justified completely?
How long will I camp out in my justified negative response?
Its always up to me. As well as, it is always up to YOU.
And, I am just a wee bit glad the plan in to go to Myrtle Beach next April break....... :)
Love from the Traveling Nest,
Julie, Mother who still has hair, 2 teen daughters, and a 2 year Old.
No comments:
Post a Comment