Okay, our "fabulous" vacation to visit my folks in Ohio did not go exactly as planned.
"How's that?" you may ask. Well, here's a break down of the low-lights for you.
We had a battalion formation on Friday so the BOSS could wish us a good leave period and encourage us to do everything in our power to return safely. For an infantry unit, that's sometimes asking a lot. Anyway, we wrapped up the day and I jumped in my truck and took off for home. About 3/4 of the way through the base, I noticed a rhythmic clicking sound coming from behind me. I slowed down, and the sound slowed. OK, I've got something in my tire tread. Better check it out when I get home.
We have three speed bumps coming up the neighborhood through street where I live to slow down idiots like me who try to go as fast as possible. These tend to put added pressure on the tires if you go over them too quickly. I told you that to tell you this...
I pulled into the driveway and heard it...
"sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss"
I got out of the truck and literally watched my right rear tire go flat. Fortunately, I've changed a couple of tires before and the truck comes with an unusual, but adequate, jack system and spare tire. I changed my tire just as my wife was pulling into the driveway with the kids. The Boy hops out and says, "Whatcha doin?" So I try to explain to him that Daddy hit a nail or something and all the air has gone out of my tire, so I have to change it. "Oh... Can I try?"
No.
So I took the tire to a local tire dealer and told him what happened. He said he could fix it, but he'd need about 4 hours. Fine, just git-r-done. My wife had to go to work, so I had to wait until the next day to get the tire.
Fast forward now to Sunday morning...
Our neighbor rang the doorbell and asked Jen if we'd been outside yet because "I think something has happened to your truck." We go out there and, sure enough, something has happened to my truck...
Some thug decided he needed my camouflage uniforms more than I did and busted out my driver's window to get to them. Can you believe that?! Fortunately, since I just gotten the windows tinted, the film held all the glass together and there wasn't glass everywhere. STILL! Come to find out that the crook also took most of the Iraqi Dinars I'd gotten as mementos of my combat tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jokes on them, though... If they try to sell it, it's not worth the paper it's printed on. THPPPPTT!
So anyway, we spent Monday evening packing for the trip. About 11, Jen says she's going to bed. No problem. I'm thinking I'll stay up, since we need to get up at 3 and play on the computer or something. About 12:30, I decide that's a bad idea. Not wanting to wake up Jen, I crash on the couch, but I set the alarm on the TV first to wake me up at 3. At 3:15 Jen came down and asked if I was going to get up. Huh?! I checked the alarm setting... 3 am, check... Tuesday? No... I'd set it for Sunday. D'oh! Well, we hastened through and got on the road just a few minutes after 4. We picked up Jen's mom (so she could bring the car back to the house) and made it to the airport a few minutes after 5. If anything, the trip emphasized how bad the traffic in SD is. Normally, that would take us over an hour, and we made it in less than 50 minutes.
We boarded our plane and the kids were all excited about the whole thing. Then they fell asleep. Then they woke up. The Boy wanted a snack and the Girl wanted to nurse (that's a different story altogether). Then we landed in Denver. As we got off the plane, I checked the status board for our next flight. I wish I was making this up, it'd be funnier. We deplaned at get 56 and our next flight was already boarding... at gate 19. True story. The whole family was like O.J. Simpson on those old Avis commercials where he's running through the airport like it's an NFL obstacle course or something. At least, that's how we started. About 1/2 way there, the Boy decided he didn't want to go to Ohio and he just sat down. Talk about a "grrr moment." We got him moving and made the plane with a whole 10 minutes to spare. Then we went through the whole routine again. We landed in Indianapolis and got our rental van, which had less than 1000 miles on it... brand new. I drove to Cincinnati while everyone else "rested" and we made it to my sister's house just as she and my mom were pulling in to do some last second touch ups. From there, it was a nice visit with my family. We ate out most every night. Jen got to have Graeter's ice cream for the first time. We bought a case of Dixie Chili to replenish our supply and then mailed to ourselves. A flat rate box from the post office is almost 50% cheaper than the shipping fees to have it delivered direct. Plus, we mailed it the day before we left for home, traveled on Tuesday and the chili showed up on Wednesday. Pretty cool, if you ask me.
Anyway, that's about it. Now I need to get my truck fixed and replace my cammies before I leave on this deployment and we're supposed to be getting together with our small group to go bowling tonight.
Any suggestions for sanity? I'm hyperventalating just thinking about it.
7 comments:
Geeeeez Man, deep cleansing breaths. Take care.
Blame it on the BOSS. If he had wished everyone smooth sailing, none of this would have happened.
Oops..had=hadn't, duh!
Sounds like some of my prior vacations. The gate thing is amazing - it always seems to happen.
Go fishing. That always helps me to relax.
At least all was well when you got to Ohio. The theft makes me a bit sick. My husband had his razor, loose change, and some jeans he had just purchased stolen from our car. He was way out in the country in a garage working on his truck when it happened. The guy was cool as a cucumber when my husband saw him, he said he was interested in a car we had out in the weeds. It was not until my husband finished the truck and got in the car that he realized the guy had robbed him. This is in ND. We are still livid. Hugs and take care.
I left out the ironic part about Denver... on our way home we had a three hour layover (by design) so we could get some lunch. During that time we had to find our way from gate 26 to (drumroll please) gate 27. The best part? The plane we'd just gotten off of changed flight numbers and left about 30 minutes later heading to San Diego. Some things get better with time, like marriage or fine wines. I just hope this story can fit into this category.
Does this vacation get filed under the heading 'Adventure'? ;)
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