We decided to take our small car which would just fit the three car seats in the back seat and take advantage of the great gas mileage and make a trip down there--Tosha, the three kids, and me--no room for Jena or Gary so they stayed home and visited Lagoon few times without us! The plan was to leave on August 2 around 5:00 after I finished a training for the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation in Salt Lake. Timing was perfect. I stepped out of my training and Gary drove up in the car packed with Tosha and the kids--we headed south and he headed back home to Syracuse....
You know how some trips go without a hitch and things are so seamless and everyone is so calm and happy that you think you are in a dream---well, this was not one of those trips! I don't know if I have ever been on one of those trips but I do know that memories are made in the messiness of life and some of the ones I treasure occurred during rainstorms and falling down tents and everything else that goes with traveling. I actually loved this trip DESPITE all of the stuff that happened. There were just some sweet moments in the middle of everything that I will treasure--spending time with Tosha in the car even during the disasters, seeing the Russells cousins with their AZ cousins, spending lunch with my sister and brother....but I am getting ahead of myself....
The story goes like this:
Leaving Salt Lake City on a Friday night at 5:00 pm is never the best plan, but became necessary so that I could make my training. Traffic was slow as we headed over the Point of the Mountain into Utah county as expected. There is major construction in that section of the road which added to the traffic problems and there were no shoulders to pull off in case of need. Unfortunately as we entered into the tight construction zone, poor Niki began throwing up in the back seat--all over himself, the car seat, his sister's car seat---you can picture it. Tosha, who is prone to car sickness anyway, had to turn around from the front seat and try to help him with the few items we had available--and had to stay that way for about 10 miles until there was finally an exit to get off and park and really help him. This is never a good way to start a long trip. Tosha and I had a brief conversation about whether we should head home. No fun traveling with a sick child. However, Niki seemed much better after getting cleaned up and his clothes changed, so we decided to press forward.
Our goal was to make Kanab, Utah in south central Utah by 10:30 so that we could make it into Oro Valley Saturday afternoon and be able to enjoy more time with Scott and family. The kids, after our rocky start, did well in the car and we were making good progress down the freeway and then through the cut-off over to Hwy. 89.
It was there that it started getting dark, but we also began seeing thunderstorms to the south. Tosha spent a fair amount of time trying to get a photo of the storms because they were beautiful in the distance. Then the rain hit which slowed all of the traffic down as we climbed up and down the rolling hills of that part of the country.
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| Tosha took this gorgeous photo of the skies ahead. |
My goal during rainstorms on dark nights on state highways is to find a pace car and follow behind them so that I can judge the needed speed, changes in the road, etc. It is a tried and proven method. One favored by all of the cars traveling in our direction that night. I had found a car, driving at an appropriate speed and had followed them very far back for a few miles when they began slowing way way down. It became clear that they wanted me to pass and after a while, I did as they had dropped to 40 miles an hour even though it wasn't raining at the moment. As soon as I passed, they picked up the pace and followed behind me as I had done to them earlier. I then spent the next several miles watching behind me for another car that I could let pass me so that I wouldn't be in front. Each car either was driving too fast for the conditions so we just let fly by us or they would pull in behind me and follow my pace. And so it went through Hatch, Utah, and the other little spots along the way, now in the pouring rain with lightening and thundering all around us.
Ava was sleeping in her car seat and Niki and Cooper were spending some time on their tablets. We had just past the turn-of for Hwy. 14 to Cedar City and were on target to arrive at our hotel in Kanab by 10:30. We were about 50 miles away at that point.
And then the deer ran across the road literally into the front of our car--hitting the front driver side and taking out the light and other parts of our car. It was a terrible sight to see, but fortunately only Tosha and I saw anything. As we pulled off to the side of the road, Niki asked what had made that loud noise, but Ava didn't even wake up and the kids were not upset at all. One car stopped to check on us and then went on by with the others in our little convoy. We could still see the lights of the gas station at the Cedar City turn-off, so I kept the car running, made a u-turn and pulled into the gas station which was closing as we drove up.
The original tow truck did not have room for the car and for us so we hung out with some of our stuff on the side of the convenience store. At least there were some chairs and light while we waited.
People stopping to get gas would come over and check on us. One lady offered us some candy for the kids (we declined as we were hoping for them to sleep at some point.) One man on a motorcycle was very concerned about us and waited at the gas pump, cleaning his motorcycle for about 30 minutes from 12:30-1:00 am to make sure that we were getting picked up by a tow driver. The local county sheriff, however, drove straight by without checking why two women and three little children were camped out along the gas station. Oh, well.
We finally got into a hotel with three little kids at 2:30 a.m. It took a bit longer than that for Tosha and I to finally fall asleep. At that point, Day One had come to an end and we weren't sure what the rest of the day would bring. We were pretty sure our car was not making a trip down to Oro Valley.
Austen was determined no more trips without him! Gary is slightly more used to this stuff and kept his opinions to himself that night. As for me, it was actually my first real accident as a driver. At 64 years old, that isn't bad, but it wasn't something I had on my bucket list either. That night as I was settled down to sleep, I wasn't sure about making the rest of the trip. I just wanted to hug Gary and be in my own bed.
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