Sleep
usually comes hard the night before we leave on vacation and this year was no
exception. High winds and lightning put
on a celestial sound and light show outside our home, but other than our trash
can being upended and our newspaper being blown across the road we escaped
unscathed.
This year’s
vacation involves 2 cars and 7 people.
My son and his family will be accompanying my wife and me to Orlando to
go to Disney World. For 3 kids, ages 2,
6 & 9, it will be an endless stream of delights. For two geezer grandparents, the delight will
primarily come in watching the grandkids enjoy Disney World's endless stream of delights, which makes it well worth it.
Typically, when
we head east, my wife and I are usually in St. Louis by 8 am. This trip, Moleia, the mole dog, will be
boarding at the Vet, whose office doesn’t open until 7:30. Oh, well.
We will miss the St. Louis rush hour.
My wife and I headed to
town to grab some coffee and run a couple of last minute errands until the dog
was safely in her temporary new quarters.
At 7:20 my phone rang. Slight
delay – the Vet’s office does not open until 8:30 on Thursdays.
At 9 am, 3 hours later
than normal, we departed Jefferson City.
A few minutes before we stopped
for lunch at a Subway west of Marion, Il., a red light appeared on the dash of
my son’s car. Electrical problem. Google directed us to the nearest Honda
dealer. When we arrived, cars were lined
up awaiting service.
“I’ll do my best, but I’m
not sure if I can even look at it today” said the Service Rep. “And then I may have to order a part”. Mentally, we began assessing our options.
Option 1 – Spend the night
in Marion and let the kids swim at a motel while the car was being
repaired. On to TripAdvisor.com I went to
search for deals. What I saw astounded
me. Drury Inn - $175 per night. Holiday Inn Express - $199 per night. Hampton Inn - $169 per night.
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| We Lost An Alternator and a Tooth in Marion, Illinois |
“Wow” I said to Dan, the
Honda Salesman. “Motel rooms are high
around here. Is something going on?”
“Are you kidding me?” he replied.
“Nothing ever goes on in Marion.
Oh – wait. There is a Toby Keith
concert tomorrow!”
Option 1 – out.
Option 2 – Trade
cars. My son and his wife had been
considering it anyway. While the
negotiations began, my wife and I found a park and took the kids to play. While there, Gavin lost a tooth that had
been loose for a while. After 30
minutes, my son called. The negotiations
were at a stalemate.
Option 3 – Rent a
car.
Bingo.
At 4 pm, we transferred
everything from my son’s car to the rental car and left my son’s car in Marion
to be repaired.
We were 4 hours behind
schedule. Eastbound and down. Traveler’s tip – Nashville traffic is not too
bad after 7 pm on a week night. Then,
another warning! Google maps warned of
an unspecified delay ahead on I-24. We
stopped for dinner, hoping it would clear.
It didn’t. It got worse.
When we finished dinner, I-24 was completely shut down. At Shelbyville, Tn., Google maps directed us
south into the darkness of the hills, hollers and narrow two-lane roads of
rural Tennessee on a 26-mile detour. In
the back seat I heard my six-year-old granddaughter whisper to her
nine-year-old brother “We’re gonna die!”
“Well” I responded. “At least
you’ve had six good years!” “I’ve had
nine good years!” chipped in her brother.
One white-knuckle hour
after leaving I-24, our detour reunited us with I-24.
After checking into our
hotel at Manchester, Tn., a bulletin popped onto my phone that explained the
reason for our detour. Two escaped
Georgia prisoners who had murdered two prison guards had been captured by rural
homeowner Patrick Hale of Christiana, Tn., just south of I-24. When warned the fugitives were in the area,
Mr. Hale later told police “I loaded every weapon in my house.” Then, when he actually saw the fugitives
emerge from the woods 300 yards from his home, he grabbed his wife and little
girl and got in his car to get away. Something strange happened next. The
escaped prisoners took off their shirts, waved them in the air, and then laid face-down in the Hale driveway with their hands behind their heads. Per Mr. Hale,
“My vehicle looks like a police cruiser.
I realized I had two ex-cons wanted for murder who had just shot at law
enforcement who had nothing to lose and for some reason they surrendered and
laid down on the concrete in my driveway.
If that doesn’t make you believe in Jesus Christ, I don’t know what
does!”
I felt pretty much the
same way when we safely pulled up to the front door of our motel after a day of
delays, detours, mechanical breakdowns - and captured murderers.
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