Birthday Breakdown...Let's Eat Carrots!

 What started out as a simple trip to celebrate little William's First Birthday turned into a road-trip gone wrong. We had even left on time. (That's pretty much unheard of in my world.)

About a half-hour into our trek as we drove through construction heavy Cumberland, my dear Scarlet let out a chugging sort of gasp. Leo and I looked at each other and one of us said, "Maybe we drove over a construction bump." At least that is what we told ourselves.

About another two miles slipped by as we drove when as we were driving the car lost all power. Uh-oh. Leo, maybe you just accidentally bumped it into neutral. Yeah, that's it. Denial at times like this is sometimes necessary.

We got to the side of the road, paused briefly and got the old girl restarted. Okay, this was good; let's keep going. I want birthday cake.



About a hop, skip and jump down the road, the same thing happened. The car just simply lost power. Coasting to Exit 46, we got off to a safer place and Aaron and Lisa-Anna followed in their car. See, this is what I get for sending a text this morning about the plan.
Aaron: Okay cool. Could we follow you?
Me: Sure. If you can keep up with ol' Scarlet :).
Me: And Leadfoot Leo.
Aaron: :)

Those would be known as "Famous Last Words".

Oh, and that birthday cake I was hungry for? I will just say that extra large carrots, sliced almonds, and coconut roasted peanuts really don't measure up. But hey, when you haven't eaten supper and are stranded by the side of the road, it'll do.
Ask Heather and Lisa-Anna who ate a carrot or two.

As for me, I forsook the carrots in lieu of checking out this Belvedere that sat just across the road from were we found ourselves semi-stranded. I think it was taunting us. I may be old but I least I run."

What to do, oh what to do?
I know!
I knew this Triple A Membership would came in handy at some point.
I'll be renewing 11/30/14 thank you.

 After a few phone calls that determined that it was not a battery issue and that a tow truck was en route, we waited. We saw buzzards flying overhead and Ryan said, "Something died." I thought, "No kidding." Someone suggested we take a family Christmas card photo. Ah, the memories. Ah, the wonder as we would be featured on Awkward Family Photos. Maybe next year Lisa-Anna, next year.

The tow guy got Scarlet loaded without any fuss and I apologized for the strong whiffs of skunk radiating from somewhere on my car (I must've hit one last night?) Then, after all the kids took off to get pizza in Aaron and Lisa-Anna's car, Leo and I climbed aboard the tow truck. After a brief Sheetz Run for some kind of an energy drink for our driver, Bill, and another quick pull-off to grab his remote control car steering thing which he'd left on his flatbed, we were soon headed West towards home.

Mr. Bill didn't know it but I was taking notes on my phone. You know, in case I was inspired to write something. Poor guy had no idea. It went something like this:

"Talkative mechanic. Like I wanted to know about how unsafe these Maryland bridges are that he is driving us over. Wonderful. Or Fat Boy's 30 inch pizza that he pulls his cell phone out to check for the picture his friend sent. Yeah, please do that. I feel so safe."

"Riding high in the tow truck is kinda fun. A turbo diesel no less. Only 30,000 miles on it and it's only had to be in the shop once. Yay. But hey, it's won first place in numerous parades. Kinda makes the firemen mad though, especially it it was a fireman's parade. I will definitely have to check out this rig once we reach our destination." 

 Wow. Would you just look at that! The truck. Look at the truck. (But Leo, he's first place in my book. He looked very nice tonight by the way. Just saying.)

The car was safely unloaded at the garage of our choice and we checked the car for any remaining items of value before starting to walk until our ride picked us up. We weren't worried. We had each other and a bag of carrots. It's all good.

Love,
Dianne