Now, on to the situation at hand. We have family in Fairhope, AL (as you already know from here and here) that we visit a lot. We decided since Tropical Storm Karen cancelled Canon's soccer game {and then failed to grace us with her presence - thanks TSK} that we would take the time to relax. We had a great time watching football {Roll Tide!!!} and spending time with friends and family.
*Edit: Some have found that this video isn't working, so if you want to watch it, you can view it on my Instagram page or by following this link.
When we finally decided it was time to leave Sunday night and head back home, it was 8:00 pm, which would put us home at 9:00 pm. Not terrible, but not great. Canon was asleep in the back seat and had already gotten a bath for the night. It's ok - we can live with that.
Fate had other plans for us.
As we headed down the highway, about 20 minutes into our trip, we came upon traffic at a stand-still. Literally. People were getting out of their cars to see what was happening. {Ok, that may have just been me, but it doesn't sound as crazy when I say "people".} After a few minutes of twiddling our thumbs, Craig and I both notice the A/C blowing warmer air. That is NOT ok, because it is freakin' hot here - even at night in October. As I am playing with the air controls, Craig notices that the battery light has come on. And the steering isn't responding. Oh, and now there is smoke coming from the hood of the car. All good signs. Of course, we are in the left lane of this stand-still traffic, so we have no choice but to pull over on to the left shoulder or blow up with our car that is now practically on fire*.
Is now a good time to remind you that we JUST REPLACED THE TRANSMISSION IN MY CAR A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO?! Now Craig's car is smokin' on the interstate 40 minutes from our house?! Really?! Awesome.
After a {somewhat minor} freak out in frustration while trying not to wake up Canon, Craig got out of the car to assess the situation while I scoured our car for any water that we may be hoarding. I had a ton of white grape peach juice that my mom had sent us home with {thanks Mom!}, but Craig said it wouldn't work. Pssshhhh, that stuff is the bees knees. It heals all. We found all of one water bottle, which he emptied into the radiator and --- nothing happened. Keep in mind that this stop-and go traffic is still happening feet away from us and NO ONE stops to ask if we need help. Thanks for nothing, all who were on I-10 last night.
Finally, I saw a little break in the traffic and some lights backing up to us. An angel appeared, in the form of Mike from the volunteer fire department in Rosinton, AL. They were responding to a wreck {which caused the backup in the first place}, and he was the lucky one who was dispatched to check on us. Bless him and the Rosinton Volunteer Fire Department. Not only did he put more water into our radiator, pull the frayed belt {the cause of all of this mess} out of our engine, and keep his lights on so no one would hit us while we waited for a tow truck {long after they cleaned up the wreck and his buddies left}, but he also volunteered to take us and all of our stuff to meet my brother who was coming to take us home. The tow truck could only fit two people, and although he tried, Craig wasn't able to leave me behind on the side of the interstate. It must be against the law or something. At least that's what I told him. Sucker.
At this point, Canon had awakened and was staring in amazement at the fact that he was actually in a fire truck, with lights and everything. It was the coolest thing ever, of course. We set up to meet my brother, Wread, at the closest exit to our location so that he wouldn't have to get into all of the traffic that we were experiencing. He wasn't familiar with the area, so we gave him the address of a gas station where visibility was plentiful. Of course, this happened to be right across from an adult book store, which was talked about ad nauseam - to the point that I was afraid that Canon would go to school today talking about his ride in the fire truck and his trip to the adult book store. That would be a little difficult to explain.
After we finally said our thousandth thank you and goodbye to Mike the fireman, we hopped into Wread's car, and arrived at our house around 11:15 pm - a little over two hours from when we were supposed to originally get home.
All of this sounds terrible, but let me tell you why I am so grateful.
1. We were in stand-still traffic, which meant when the car died we weren't going 80 miles per hour with others around us doing the same.
2. There was already a wreck ahead of us {no one was hurt, thank goodness}, so there were responders on the scene that could then also help us.
3. We have emergency roadside assistance with our car insurance company which means we didn't pay an arm and a leg for a tow that far from home.
4. Mike the fireman took time out of his evening to make sure that we were taken care of and even offered to let Canon wear his fire helmet.
5. Wread left his family to come pick us up and take us all the way to Pensacola before driving back home to Fairhope. {Yes, I know I have the best family ever.}
6. My husband kept a level head and took charge of the situation. He took care of us.
7. Canon had already had a bath, and was in his pj's sleeping while most of this was happening so he didn't panic at all.
And as we were riding with Mike towards the gas station/adult book store, Craig looked at me and said "well, that's going to make a good blog post!" He knows me too well.
*Dramatization used freely to express what may or may not have actually been happening at the time.
This does make a great blog post! Scary situation, thanks for reminding me of the ONLY reason I'm thankful not to have a car anymore ;) But, there're always things to be thankful for in such situations and I'm glad you were rescued :)
ReplyDeleteOh definitely. There is always something to be thankful for and this situation gave us several things! Thank you - I am too! :)
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