Never a Break

I've been looking forward to his week for a long time because my parents are out for a visit. Most of you don't know my parents or don't know much about them. Well their the kind of people that really would do anything for anybody. I've always said that my Dad would give his shirt off his back to anyone even if it meant he didn't have another to put on. I feel like my parents are really good people but they always have the worst things happen to them. I feel like they are never given a break for anything. Well their trip out here was another one of their wonderful experiences in life. For anyone who wants a good story read below. It's stories like these that make me realize I don't have it too bad and then if you read even further you can read what I've been up to.

(These our post from my Mom's blog, at least read the last one)

Road Trip Through the Great State of Wyoming NOT

Yes this has been quite a trip. Things were going well until just about 35 miles outside Laramie. It was snowing and the wind was blowing really hard. The car started making a really bad knocking noise so we stopped just as we were going up a hill. We sat there for about 25 min with the hood up and lights blinking but no one stopped . It was just our luck that there was no cell phone signal where we were and Dad was about to pee his pants (he actually let a little trickle down his legs, oh that must have made him even colder). Of course, many prays were offered and I begged the Lord to send some help. I became very concerned because it was getting darker from the storm and temperatures continued to dropped, the thought crossed my mind that we were going to freeze to death. I decided to make a sign on the back of our directions to Sarah's that read, "HELP". Dad stood out there and held up the sign for about 5 min while trucks kept passing us by ignoring our plea for help. After five minutes Dad had to come back in the car to get warm. Have I mentioned that we only had two small fleece jackets to keep us warm and one direct TV fleece blanket. At this time my mind reflected back to the pioneers who traveled this same path in the winter months . I have no idea how they survived the cold, windy climate of crappy Wyoming. So then I took a turn holding the sign and just 2 min later a big semi truck stopped up the road and Dad went to talk to the driver. I started to cry just because I knew the Lord had heard and answered our prayers just an hour later. I guess he told Dad that he couldn't stand seeing a woman out there without helping. He was originally from SLC. He called for a tow truck and left leaving us with some bottled water. The tow truck finally showed up about 5:40 and we arrived at the GM dealership in Laramie after 6 PM. Luckily the GM dealership had a repair shop open until 10. However when we got there they told us they were so busy they would not be able to look at our car until the next day. Fortunately the mechanics took pity on us and agreed to give the car a look. We were disappointed when they told us the engine was completely shot and that it wouldn't be worth putting a new one in. Without thinking much the salesman's got a hold of us like they always do and sucker us in to look at used cars. We looked at a grand total of two, mind you it was still freezing, snowing, and the wind was blowing hard and we still only had our little fleece jackets . Lets just say I wouldn't have chosen these conditions to car shop but nevertheless we decided on a 2004 Malabu for $9,900 with less than 35,000 Miles on it. We felt so grateful that they took off an additional 300 dollars off for the Saturn. We feel like we got a pretty good deal. We sat down with the salesman to purchase our car and we should have known with the way things were going everything wouldn't be smooth. When they ran our credit to our surprise we had been reported to the creditors for an outstanding medical bill for Dad. Guess we need to look into that. Everything worked out and we were ready to go grab a bit to eat because we were starving. When we got into the car we rolled 30 feet and realized the car never started. Talk about a bad omen. It turned out the battery was dead. They replaced the battery and we finally got out of there at 9.50. We went to Apple bee's to eat where the service was less than good and my steak was small and didn't taste very good. We decided with the weather that we would get a hotel for the night. We finally got to bed about 11 pm dead tired. I Hope today is a lot better.

And the Car Troubles Continue

The rest of our adventure to Sarah's was uneventful besides the usual of the bickering over directions. We Got to Sarah's around 11:30 and then went to lunch to a great Chinese place on Sarah's dime for my Mother's Day Gift. Sarah had planned for us to take a trip to Walmart while Dad watch Jane during nap time. As we got in the car Sarah said, "man we should drive your new car to the store." Apparently she is never feeling very secure in her Subaru. I told her no way I hadn't even driven the car yet and it wasn't going any where. We started off on our trek to walmart which is about 15 minutes from her house. During our conversing on the drive I remark, "Wow this car has really served you well all these years. I'm surprised it still runs." When we were about two miles away from the exist Sarah said, "Something is wrong with the car". We made it to the Walmart parking lot with the odor of burnt rubber following us. Sarah was smart enough to think that we better find out if the car will get us back home before we buy a bunch of groceries. We decided we better check the oil before we did anything else since Sarah confessed they had not changed the oil in over a year. I told Sarah she had to do it since it was raining and I refused to get my hair wet and I was sick of car troubles. Well I ended up having to do in anyway since Sarah couldn't get her hood up (she is hopeless when it comes to cars). The oil was fine but we noticed a part under the hood by the dash smoking and smelling really bad. Sarah got back in the car to see if it would start again. It started like a champ but when she went to reverse it after putting in the gas the car would not budge. We think she burnt her clutch out. Sarah Called Andrew and he came and picked us up. Luckily Sarah has a friend with AAA that let her use one of her free tows for friends so now the car is back at the house. It was not nearly as dramatic as our car troubles but it still continued the saga of car problems. Sarah joking said, "You brought me bad luck!" It's such a good thing we drove out here, our car broke down, we were able to buy a new one so we aren't stuck at Sarah's house all week without a car. Well you know me and my optimistic attitude so I must say, "It was all a blessing in disguise." right???


The Subaru has been a really good car to us but I think this is the end my friend. Now I get to be car less for awhile but it really couldn't be a better time with gas prices, insurance renewal next month, and time to register again. The biggest disappointment about the whole thing is that I filled up the car right before it broke down. We will be stiffening the gas I not throwing 42 bucks away. Christy do you have anything to get gas out of a car?