Another drive day, but the first thing I remember from this morning was the sad sight of granny and granddaddy's bed empty. They were gone in the middle of the night, apparently never even waking Sam and Davis that were sleeping in the living room. Our journey began with them in a Hardees somewhere in Arkansas I believe, and their car was the home on the road for Sam for many many miles, and maybe Davis for about 10 miles leaving the Grand Canyon until we had a pit stop, and I think for Belle and Ruby in the Painted Desert maybe or one of the national parks for just one small section. But we loved having them with us, and now we were on our own. Of course we checked on each other throughout this whole day, which ended up being a crazy adventure.
There were a lot of events that should have let us know that our day would have some obstacles. The first I remember was alexa not listening to us in the van. She stayed red as if she was mad at us for a long time that morning until we were in Kansas. So we had to listen to the radio, and that was quite disturbing. Finally, during a break from a movie, Davis asked why we were not listening to alexa. Magan and I pointed out the poorly behaved step-sister still showing her half grin half frown red line of "I am not going to listen to you, You aint my parents, I listen to no one but Bezos". After we told him about how she just wasn't working for us all day, he said, "Well, you could press that button right there on top that takes her off mute, and then she will work for you". Ahhhh, we knew that.
Later, we hit a bird going down the interstate. Like, I have seen many flying and they usually do pretty good, but this one just didn't rise fast enough. And again, it's not like the black van is the fastest on that little interstate system, so apparently it could only be a bonzai bird sent to warn us about the upcoming obstactle, as shortly after the bird was hit, I got a low tire sensor indicator. And while my dread of imminent danger in our car on this long journey was at a maximum on the first few days, it had slowly gone away, only to be madly awakened by that indicator. And I quickly realized how much this could impact our trip.
But a flat tire is something our crew had dealt with before, and had dealt with before on multiple family trips, just not in the middle of Kansas. Front Driver side flat tire...We immediately began to work together, Sam and Davis unloading the middle section so I could get to the spare. Then as I started getting the jack in place and cranking upwards, Davis was my watcher (I had pulled to the next exit that was only one mile from the sensor indicator) for any cars coming up, while Sam and Mom starting looking for a near by tire station. Magan found an express oil only 5 miles away which made me so happy, until I realized that Magan still has not figured out how google and google maps works, so I think she found the one in Chelsea. Sam had found that the next exit had at least some resemblance of a town. So as I kept cranking, I had Magan call AAA to get the name and number for a place that could help. And as I finished with the spare, we had a name at the next exit. I called this place, and told them the size I needed. "We don't have it, but there is another place I send folks that might...Precision Collision...right down the road". So I called them and they did not answer, but we were running out of time (Sensor light came on right at about 2:45PM, and we were know at 3:30PM...FRIDAY AFTERNOON...BEFORE JULY 4th!!). I knew also that I had not aired up the spare since riding it back from Atlanta on our previous flat tire incident. So I knew we had to get to the next exit for air, and we had a place that might have a tire for us. This was a very long 10 minute drive, one because I was going so slow, but second as I looked around for other honda odysseys that I might have to steal a tire from in this town of Russell, Kansas.
And then we made it to Precision Collision...to find a locked door...and a note that they were closed until after the July 4th holiday. But looking inside the store, I saw a lady inside, and so I knocked, as I am sure she could see it on my face that I was desperate when I said "I am from Alabama, and I had a flat tire, I am just hoping you guys can help". And they could, and they would. She found a tire for us, but then when I asked if she had a whole set, she set YES, so we just replaced all 4. So I went and put the spare tire back in as two guys jacked it up and started on the 4 tires, and they knocked it out quick. We did have a short wait while they finished up an oil change before us, but we were back on the interstate by 5:30PM, and that is completely rediculousness. It is often not as obvious to me to see when prayers are answered and God is watching out for you, Magan sees is more than I...but on this journey of 5,647 miles, there was probably a span of about 10 miles where if we had a flat tire, it could have been fixed this fast. Absolutely amazing, that remained at to top of our prayers of thankfulness for the remainder of the trip. Looking back at the mountains we crossed, the downhill coasters through Utah, the neverending stretches of desert in Nevada, and the crazy people that drive in Arkansas, there were so many places that would have wrecked the plans and memories that I have been writing in this blog. Yet in this one scary moment just outside Russell, KS also just enhanced our trip. We had new tires, we met a sweet little girl and her parents at the tire place, we had AC and a bathroom while we waited, and a strange highlight to our trip.
And get this, we made it to KC just a little late, but in time to get some amazing KC BBQ at "Q39" for supper. And ask anyone in that van about this day and what was most memorable...Yes, of course it was the flat tire...but second place was that BBQ. Wow, it was amazing. Appetizer of Poutine with BBQ, apple slaw, and look at Magan's wedge salad. Hahaha, Magan asked Ruby if she saved room for dessert, and she looked at her with her little smile and said "Well, I did just go to the bathroom". If you have room, you have room.
We then went to our hotel, where I had planned a last hotel surprise for them at the Embassy Suites (only later planning to stop at Memphis, so this was not our last hotel). I had booked this room using over twice the normal points because they were free when I opened a new CC. So I used up all the points I had to get us the presidential suite room. I just laughed as each of them walked in and started saying WOAH, it's so big. And it was nice, we had two separate bedrooms with a living room in the middle, and a large dining room table. And after this crazy day with signs of doom, followed by signs of providence, I was so thankful to be in this room safe with my best friend and 4 best buddies.
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