Last weekend I flew home to Cincinnati for my friend Jill's wedding. Paul was supposed to go too, but because of his paper he couldn't take the time off of work... I got in Thursday evening, Sarah R. picked me up from the airport. Friday I got to spend some time with the fam. We went shopping for Chelsi's college stuff and went to Zachary's Karate class. On Saturday, I went to Jill's wedding and got to see lots of old friends that I haven't seen since graduation. Her wedding was beautiful and I had a great time, but I missed my husband dearly. Sunday, was church. Abigail came and afterwards we had a cookout for Sarah's 23rd birthday. Monday mom, the kids and I went to the pool for a little fun in the sun. We watched lots of Olympics while I was home, Chipotle, LaRosa's all the good stuff you can't find in VA. It was a great visit. I was all set to leave on Tuesday- but there was too much packing, returning and exchanging of wedding gifts, and people to say goodbye to. That evening I went over to the Rothhaar's to visit and get some of hubbie's things.
Wednesday morning bright and early I set out for home...anxious to see my sweetie...That's where the real fun began. I got as far as Maysville, Kentucky when Paul's car (the Firebird) started to overheat. Despite the fact that Dan had checked out the car and filled it 2x with water and antifreeze, the reservoir was bone dry. So, I pulled over and let it cool. I put antifreeze in the radiator and water in the reservoir drove up the street to Wal-Mart and on my husband's advice, purchased some Bar's Leak and put that in too to seal the leak. From here I proceeded to stop about every hour or so and fill the reservoir with water so the car wouldn't overheat. Needless to say, this made my 10 hour car trip into about a 12 hour trip.
I made it through Charleston, West Virginia and then came the toll road and the mountains... about half way through this mess there was a big storm, the sky was pitch black, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. The National Weather advisory interrupted the radio station to warn people of the storm. The wind was blowing really hard, cloud to ground lightening, crashing thunder, it was raining so hard you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you and traffic was slowed to about 35mph. Then it began to hail. Around 5pm, I was about 3 hours from home at the junction where US-64 and US-81 split off when my front right tire blew out. I was going 65mph in the fast lane (the slow lane was wall-to-wall semis), it was still pouring down rain and blowing pretty hard- these facts combined with the blowout resulted in my car jerking to the right towards a semi. Somehow I avoided getting smashed like a pancake and made it to the "shoulder," which was actually 4 feet of blacktop on the side of a big drop off down the mountain.
The tire was completely shredded and smoking. I was positioned on a blind curve coming down the mountain. In front of me was a bridge with no shoulder. The curtain of rain and car full of presents made it impossible to drive backwards down the shoulder. I couldn't see far enough to risk getting out of the car...so I called Paul. He told me to drive on the rim to safety...but I couldn't see to pull out into traffic and there were semis flying by. So, he told me to put on the spare...
I said a prayer, opened the door and dashed to the rear of the car. By the time I had the trunk open I was already soaked through. I piled all of our wedding presents out in the rain behind the car and dug out the spare and tire iron only to discover that there was no jack. I put the gifts back in the trunk and jumped back in the car. I called Paul again. He says okay, I'm on my way. Wet, freezing cold, unable to turn on the car because the radiator will overheat I sit (upright- because the car is too packed to recline) and wait for my husband to drive three hours to come rescue me. Then I hear an ominous sound coming from my phone.
Now, we have a car charger for the phone, but it was in my car. And I had charged my phone fully the night before, our phones just have really stupid batteries. I call Paul to tell him my phone is dying. Got, "My phone is dy..." out of my mouth when it died. Little did I know, but Paul hadn't left yet, but had called the highway patrol to come rescue me (He apparently didn't understand the gravity of the situation-not realizing that the storm was the same one that had spouted tornadoes all through the midwest the day before...) So, I wait. About an hour goes by, the rain has slowed a little, enough that I can see down the mountain. On the other side of the highway's concrete barrier there is a jack-knifed semi and two crumpled cars with lots of flashing lights. Further down the mountain on my side of the highway, were more flashing lights and piled cars. I found my hoodie out of my bag put that on and waited. Another hour went by when a car pulls up behind me. A man gets out, comes up to the passenger side and asks if he can help. He volunteers his jack from the trunk of his car and proceeds to change the tire...now Paul has one of those old school spares that you blow up so it doesn't take up as much room in the trunk- the only problem- we were missing the canister that blows up the tire. So, Mr. Good Samaritan (A.K.A. Dale Early) pulls out his emergency roadside kit (something I will be investing in) and pulls out a hand pump and graciously and painstakingly begins the grueling process of inflating the tire. By the time this is accomplished its like 7:40. Worried about the reliability of the spare he offers to follow me two exits down the road to the next town. Seven miles later, I'm across the street from Wal-Mart in the Verizon store charging my phone and calling my husband. Paul, trusting that the police wouldn't leave me stranded, hadn't left the apartment. I wait while my phone is charging and Paul calls around to see if anyone is still open to change the tire- they're not. Changed into dry clothes, phone fully charged I head back out into the rain to sit in the car and wait. Around 11pm, my knight in shining armor rolls in. Paul looks the car over to find two nails, one in each of the rear tires. This means we have one completely blown tire, two punctured tires that are slowly leaking air, and a leaking radiator that is causing the car to overheat. So, Paul drives the firebird on the spare back to Poquoson while I follow behind in the Kia. At 2:30 am, 18 hours after I started out, I arrive safely at our apartment. Still chilled from earlier and covered in antifreeze, sweat, grease, and dirt I head straight for the bathroom and a nice hot shower. Exhausted from his own busy day, Paul made me chicken fettuccini alfredo while I was in the shower and then it was off to bed. It's good to be home...and I may never leave again. =)
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