Summer is a great time to celebrate -- it's not close to Christmas and Elizabeth is no longer a little baby. So this week we drove the family down to Arizona for a vacation. The boys had their bags packed by Thursday even though we didn't drive down until Saturday! We made amazing time and got to Ryan's parents house in 10 hours!
Elizabeth got to open a birthday presents from her Arizona aunts/uncles/cousins. It was packed with all sorts of fun things for meal time, including princess dishes and cups. So fun to have pink!
After church on Sunday, Ryan and I drove to Anaheim and left the kids in great hands. Elizabeth got to hang out with Kaley and Chase. The boys were between Grandma and Grandpa's house, Amy and Scott's, and Chris and Cassi's. We knew they would have a good time, and we're grateful for such great family who was willing to take our kids for a few days!
It's about a 6-hour drive from Mesa to Anaheim. A nice, easy, leisurely drive (without kids!) . . . not quite true for us on this adventure. We got to Blythe, about halfway, and stopped for gas and to switch drivers. When I turned the key to get back on the road . . . nothing. Not even a sound to attempt to turn over.
Right before we stopped, we had noticed a light that had been left on in the back. We had turned it off by this point, but we thought that maybe it was the battery. But such a small light couldn't have drained it too much, so we waited a minute and then tried again. Nothing.
Ironically, a few months ago we inherited some jumper cables from my parents . . . they were still sitting the garage at home in Utah. Ryan went into the gas station and purchased some cables while I looked for someone friendly to help us. A kind woman from Blythe with a big SUV came to our rescue.
After the cables were all hooked up, we tried our car again and got the starting sound, but still it would not turn on all the way. After a few more attempts, the woman called her husband to ask him about the sound and then told us they thought it was our starter. It better not be, we just had that replaced!!
Our next step was to call our insurance company's roadside assistance. It was the Lord's hand that we even had that info with us: for the trip I condensed my regular wallet contents into a small wallet -- I only was bringing my license and credit cards when I came across the insurance roadside card. I've never used the card in the 12 years I've been with them, but I decided to put it in my wallet anyway!
"Thanks for calling Geico roadside assistance! This is Carrie Underwood. How may I help you?"
So funny! I didn't say anything to her about her name, because I am sure she gets it a lot!
Geico sent a tow truck, which showed up in only about 5 minutes. This was good, since it was 104* outside and we were starting to get really hot -- especially Ryan, who had been out in the sun with the jump-start attempt.
The guy took one look at our battery and said it was dead. "Is this the original battery?" Yes. "When did you buy the car?" Spring of '06. "Yup. That's the life of a battery!"
Gee, thanks Ken Garff for "backing us up" and checking on that when we got the starter replaced.
The tow truck was able to jump start us and he led us a few blocks to an auto parts store and then waved goodbye. Ryan went in and talked to the workers and came back out a few minutes later with a new battery to install.
Diana was kind enough to supervise and help Ryan. She insisted I wait inside the air-conditioned store since it was so hot and there was no shade nearby. I waited a few minutes, but then came outside to lend my moral support since I felt bad that Ryan was slaving away in the hot sun! Diana said he did a great job and didn't need much help from her :)
We were able to get on the road within an hour of when we first stopped for gas. Although getting a dead battery is not ideal, we feel so grateful that:
1. We didn't have the kids with us
2. It wasn't anything worse than a dead battery, and we could keep our vacation plans
3. It wasn't 115* in Blythe like it usually is in the summer
4. We kept a positive attitude and can laugh about it now!
2 comments:
I'm sorry you had that hiccup on the road, but I'm glad it all worked out in the end. I hope you had a great anniversary vacation.
Thank goodness for roadside assistance from the rich and famous.Well, you can't say Carrie Underwood has never done anything for you.
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