We planned our family vacation on the fly this year. I would love to say that this road trip went well, but it didn't. I worked very hard to get everything organized and packed on the days before we left. I really wanted to be on the road by 8AM, and I woke up at about 5:45 (my internal Trent clock). I showered, started packing the car, got the kids fed and dressed, cooked pigs in the blanket for the car, etc. We did actually get on the road by 8AM. I was so proud!
The trip started out great. We made it through Nashville without incident by 11AM, and we started trying to plan where to stop for lunch. We had Brodie with us, so we planned to just have a picnic somewhere. A little past Nashville, Matt noticed the car catching while he was accelerating. Then the TRANSMISSION HOT indicator came on. We stopped at the next service station, and took out the handy-dandy manual to my Yukon. Matt checked the transmission fluid, and it looked high if anything. The book said to let the car cool down and check it again, so we ate at a sandwich shop inside the gas station. The kids had Lunchables, and Matt and I got some food.
After lunch, he checked the fluid again. It seemed fine, so we decided to get back on the road. It started doing the same things again. We discussed and decided to stop at a service station in Manchester to see if they could check it out. We used my phone and found an auto service station. They came out and checked the Yukon using the little computer. He informed us that we needed to get to a transmission shop.
We, again, used my phone to find the place. Most of the guys were at lunch, so we had to wait. Matt started calling our insurance agent and the body shop that fixed our transmission in January. We walked over to the Dollar General to waste some time. We looked for four leaf clovers, and I found a five leaf clover. The kids and I got a milk shake at the Mexican restaurant next door to the transmission shop. It poured down rain. Our phones died, and the mechanics let us charge them in the shop. The Enterprise couldn't find us a minivan or SUV. On and on and on and on.
FINALLY, at 7PM the Enterprise lady showed up with our minivan. It took us about 10 minutes to transfer everything from the Yukon to the minivan. Then we had to take her back to her office 30 minutes the wrong way. We stopped and got gas, picked up some drive thru food, and finally got on the road again about 9 hours after we stopped at the first service station.
The trip seemed so long since it got dark. Then the rain came. I told Matt that it was just our little black cloud following us. Thankfully, we had satellite radio so we sang songs and talked the whole way to Dillard. We passed the brightest realty sign in the world. It was so bright that I had to put my hand up to shade my eyes. This was after dark, too. I don't know how Matt drove by it without having a wreck. Speaking of wrecks, we saw lots of them and lots of blue flashing lights. The good thing is that it kept us awake and aware. We finally made it to Chalet 1 at about midnight.
Understatement of the Year: Road trips are not our thing. :)
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