The Anniversary from Heck!!!! Wanna hear about a crazy road trip??

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jacks'thunder

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Alright! Let me tell you about my Anniversary from HECK!!!! LOL!! What a crazy 48 hours! This is LONG!!!

I'll start at the beginning( good place hah!!). We have gone to Sanibel Island Florida twice now for our anniversary. First was in 2011 and next was a few days ago. It was hubby, me, our son, one of my nieces and both of our moms. We left on the 19th and got home on the 29th(which is our anniversary day). We bought a van last year in prep for this trip because we wanted every one to be comfy and enjoy the long ride. Nice Ford van with low miles, leather buckets, tv, all the bells and whistles for a 13 yr old van. From the beginning I told hubby I did not want to take and older vehicle that far, "oh it will be fine" "quit jinxing us" "what you don't trust me?" Seriously, I have no doubt in his mechanical skills, but old is old and things go. So I went with it, really no choice in the matter, I wanted to go, and that was what the van was for, so we went.

The ride down was great! Comfy and smooth just as planned! I thought AWESOME! I worried for nothing, that happens, I always try to think ahead and plan "just in case" stuff, you know what I mean?? LOL! Obviously so does hubby because he packed tools, jumper cables, small extra "get you through" kinda things. Like I said the trip down was great, the vacation time on the island was the best I have ever been on! Great people, lots of fun, super relaxing and oh my gosh the HOTTEST fish tacos ever!!! LOL! I had no clue that blackened + spicy sauce = burn your lips off and laugh the whole time! It was so fun!!! Beautiful weather! Awesome shells!!! It was so fun!

Ahhhhh here we go...... on the drive home the van started making this light humming noise. I look over at hubby and he shakes his head in a don't say anything yet way. So we stop at a rest area and talk about it. He thinks it has been doing it the whole time but we did not hear it with all the talking, Wii going and people laughing. I disagree fully but I'm just the co pilot! LOL! hum gets louder, and louder, and louder! We are just a few mile south of Atlanta Georgia( for any of you that drive that route it is where 475 and 75 split in Macon area). We are driving along at 70 miles and hour and BOOM we hear a loud bang and the van jerks to the right in a super scary like were going to flip kinda way! Hubby did great and kept in his lane and then we are smoking and stinking like crazy! we pull off at waffle house and check everything. Nothing obvious to be seen. Hubby thinks we may have hit a "gator"( a piece of blown out tire) and it got stuck for a few but all looks good. So off we go, right in to Atlanta! Just as we get in that huge city we get evil grinding and shaking! Now this city is HUGE and there is no where to stop! We are all hanging on for dear life! He's taking it slow with the 4 ways on and we are grinding and limping through this massive city, we head right into a crazy storm that is dumping all kinda of crazy blinding rain!! We head just out of Atlanta and he has to stop to look. The place we stopped was SOOOOOO scary! gas station, with bars on the windows and door and the man behind the counter was behind bullet proof glass!!! OMG!!! He found the problem, we have blown a wheel barring drivers side front. Now mind you all new wheel barring, breaks, rotors, pads, tires and wheels before we left! We get out of there and have to drive to an auto zone. Closed! it's Sunday and they close early! he's panic stricken and jacks the van up, shakes the wheel and tells me were are not going to make it! That tire is going to fall off!!! This cool tow truck driver happen to come along and tell us about a 24 hour auor zone up the road, so off we go! We limp grinding, growling, shaking 15 miles(and what felt like an hour and a half later) to the auto zone. Hubby starts tearing it down around 9pm and busts his rear to fix this thing! (i'm so proud of him but at the time I was soooo scared) It was so unnerving, the place was so crazy scary, the neighbor hood was BAD!!!! He fixed it the best he could with the tools he had and new parts. He got done at 3:30 in the morning!( at midnight everyone said happy anniversary to us!!! yeah.. I was not really in the mood!) We got back on the road and hit a rest area and slept for 2 hours. We got back on the road, all is decent, then the alternator takes a crap! We go all through Tennessee and half way in to Kentucky on battery only!!! We coast to a gas station just as the gauges stop working, and she dies right in the driveway!!! This cool farmer gave us a jump and told us about and auto salvage a few miles up the road. We attempted to make it but everything started to die again! I said pull into the fire station!!!! They will help us! And the chief and a guy in an orange shirt(that said inmate) let us borrow a charger, a cop pulls up and starts to yell at the guy in the orange shirt to get away from us! He really was an inmate!!!!
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Cop was nice and told us this town has gone to heck, heroin(Spelling?). Hubby pushes it again and we barley make it through Cincinnati! Find another Auto Zone and coast there on a wing and a prayer!!!! He swaps out the alternator and we are off!!! We all almost scream in joy when we see a sign for Detroit!!!! Never in my life have I been happier to see Detroit!!! LOL!! We drop my niece off and on the way we start to hear a loud howl!!! I look at him and him at me and we just go!!!! We are about an hour and a half from home and just bust through it and keep going! We finally made it home and the second I see my drive way I start balling! I was so scared that entire time!!!! We made it by 11:45pm on the 29th of July, our anniversary....

Let me make perfectly clear that Hubby did OUTSTANDING under this pressure! And the waves of stress hit me so hard and I can only imagine how he felt and still feels! He had to work midnights last night and for the next 12 days! No time to play catch up or recover from that drive!! I feel bad for him, but no rest for the weary( or is that wicked!! LOL!!) We drove through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan! Crazy!!!

Now just a side note. When we went down in 2011 I got hit by an Edison truck and went to the hospital on our anniversary, the 29th of July 2011! I think I may just stay home next year!!!! LOL!! I'm not sure what else I can take!!

Anyone else have a crazy anniversary? or crazy road trip?? I'd love to hear!! LOL!
 
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So glad you made it home. We went to Yellowstone with a new-to-us low mileage used 12 year old vw van two years ago. We were headed to a ghost town in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico and had car problems. The fans quit working. So without air conditioning we had to go to Flagstaff Arizona to the nearest VW dealer. The VW dealer couldn't find any parts close so he rented us a car and sent us to Las Vegas to pick up the parts. The van was broken for two days and we camped out until it was fixed.

This year on our 42nd wedding anniversary, hubby had major back surgery. The second of two surgeries this year. The first was on April Fool's Day and his next appointment is on Sept 11th. I think someone was having fun with the scheduling.

We still have the van and love it. We are planning many more vacations in it. It hasn't had any more failures. Just hate that we didn't get to the ghost town. I want to go back there sometime to see what we missed. lol
 
It will be a trip to remember! Sorry about your vehicle, it seems someone was watching over you the entire time.....each time you were in need, an answer and a helping person appeared to direct you, even in the most down trodden, unlikely of areas
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Happy anniversary!
 
love reading your stories!! You are super lucky to have a husband who is so calm! I'm so glad to hear you had a wonderful time down and during, so sorry you had such a stressful time on the way back (you were in my neck of the woods near Macon). Maybe next year a quiet anniversary at home?
 
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Oh My! they really was an awful trip home, glad you made it home with your sanity!

I've only had one really bad trip and that was in 2005.

My youngest daughter and I plus my dog, were going to Nationals in Tulsa and needless to say I made an awful mistake. We had just bought a new horse trailer with LQ's, goose neck and I had practiced pulling it and even taking it to a couple of local shows, but this would be my first two day haul with it. We had planned to stop in Tenn. and sleep in a motel but NO not me! I got carried away driving, it had been 18 hours on the road, stopping every couple of hours to water and rest the horses, and all of a sudden I just couldn't go any further without rest. So it's getting dark and I'm looking for a motel or hotel that advertises truckers welcome, cause I need a ball park to get this rig around into. Can't find a thing, I'm on Rt. 40 west. I finally see a sign for a truckers motel and I pull in, the place looks like a dump! Oh I must tell you the name of the place is Buck Snort, Tenn., no lie. The parking lot in the back is huge and also empty there are woods in the back of it, I pull around facing the service road and tell my duaghter I'm done, we'll sleep a few hours then back on the road. The place reminded me of the movie Deliverenc, only thing missing was the bangos playing. We fed the horses, water them, walked the dog, made a sandwich, put out the glide out cause with my OA I can't climp into the big bed. I lay down and go right to sleep. Woke up at 4 in the morning, take the dog out go to my truck to get a cig., the key bob won't work. Use my key to open the door, the light doesn't come on, OMG I forgot to unplug the trailer and it was on battery, it ran my battery down. Truck of course would not start, had to use flash light, open hood, get duaghter up, by this time some of the truckers are leaving from the front, only me and one other truck in the back, I'm scared witless. By some stroke of luck the guy in the other pickup starts his engine and is slowly coming towards us, my daughter jumps in front of him and his big dodge and he stops and gives us a jump. I let the truck run for half an hour and still didn't have enough juice to get the glide out back it, so I drive across the service road and pay the guy at the gas station ten bucks to let me pug into his electric, get the glideout back in and head back out on the highway. I drove the rest of way to Tulsa without ever turning off my engine, I was so scared the battery wouldn't let me restart. I will never ever forget Buck Snort, Tenn.
 
WOW!!!! That was scary!!!! I commend both your hubby AND you for hanging in there! You need a vacation to recover from that trip from _____ . Thank God you made it home!!!

Belated HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
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This coming Wed is our anniversary. He'll be working so nothing special for us
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I'll see him for a few hours after he gets home.
 
It will be a trip to remember! Sorry about your vehicle, it seems someone was watching over you the entire time.....each time you were in need, an answer and a helping person appeared to direct you, even in the most down trodden, unlikely of areas
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Happy anniversary!
I have to tell you you are right on! We just barely made it through each really scary area by the skin on our teeth! I prayed the entire way! After that last fix I prayed dear god thank you for making us safe and for not letting us break down again, non stop! When we got home and everyone parted ways hubby and I stood there quiet, then he said "God really helped us get home".

You all would have been shocked at how many people hang out at a 24hr Auto zone. It was crazy busy and only 1 person asked us if we were ok. People stopped and stared with there mouths open( no joke!) and a few people walked in to a post while staring at us, it's funny now but at the time it wasn't. One guy was trying to steal something and the manager got into a yelling match with him, one guy looked like he was rewiring his entire lighting system, lots of people in and out of the store. Crazy scary... Something I will never forget.
 
love reading your stories!! You are super lucky to have a husband who is so calm! I'm so glad to hear you had a wonderful time down and during, so sorry you had such a stressful time on the way back (you were in my neck of the woods near Macon). Maybe next year a quiet anniversary at home?
Ahhh Yeah!!! Home and no where else!!!!! Maybe order pizza DELIVERED! LOL!!

Well when we went through Macon in 2011 There was a few spots that were just hammered off 75 by a tornado. It was so sad, we wanted to see how they had rebuilt. But sight seeing that way did not happen, many back roads but all stressful because of the grinding and shaking. I think hubby was so calm because he had to be! LOL! My 20yr old niece was awesome, she sat right on the ground with him holding the flashlight, asking him small questions, just keeping him calm. She told him "Uncle Scott, I'm so glad this happened with you, if it was anybody else I'd be scared, but I know I'm safe with you." He got all soft and told me how nice that was to hear.
 
So glad you made it home. We went to Yellowstone with a new-to-us low mileage used 12 year old vw van two years ago. We were headed to a ghost town in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico and had car problems. The fans quit working. So without air conditioning we had to go to Flagstaff Arizona to the nearest VW dealer. The VW dealer couldn't find any parts close so he rented us a car and sent us to Las Vegas to pick up the parts. The van was broken for two days and we camped out until it was fixed.

This year on our 42nd wedding anniversary, hubby had major back surgery. The second of two surgeries this year. The first was on April Fool's Day and his next appointment is on Sept 11th. I think someone was having fun with the scheduling.

We still have the van and love it. We are planning many more vacations in it. It hasn't had any more failures. Just hate that we didn't get to the ghost town. I want to go back there sometime to see what we missed. lol
I HATE that van! I will never drive it again! lol! I'm done with it, it can sit and rot for all I care! LOL!

I'd love to see a ghost town!! How cool would that be!?!

Wanna buy a Ford e250?
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It's really nice inside and looks good on the outside!! Hahahahaha!
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:rofl (Just Joking!!!
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)
 
I'm so sorry you had such a scary experience. I don't mean to seem insensitive but it made for a great story! Happy anniversary, I'm glad you are okay!
 
I'm so sorry you had such a scary experience. I don't mean to seem insensitive but it made for a great story! Happy anniversary, I'm glad you are okay!
It is a good story if I think about it! LOL! (and now that I'm not living it!!
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hahah!) Thanks
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Egads!!!! I feel silly for complaining and being upset when my minivan "died" on me after a day trip to the beach in June. When all was said and done, I ended up having to stay overnight and had a new alternator, belt and battery installed. Likely only needed the alternator but I still had 150 miles to drive to get home and I simply couldn't take another breakdown! We were lucky in that the breakdown happened JUST as we started home and were in area full of hotels, stores, restaurants, Walmart, and the car/tire store we ended up at.

I know exactly what you mean about that kind of stress and trying to hold it together until you find yourself "safe" at the end.

{{{ hugs }}}

I agree you may just want to stay home and order in next year for your anniversary :p
 

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