Child number 2 (hereafter known as Suzy) has earned her Bachelors Degree, so the family will converge to partake of this wonderful new step. Who'd have thunk this attempt at familial bonding time would morph into a series of disasters!
It started out well enough, the six younger "kids," dad, and myself camping in Gettysburg for 2 nights. The auto tour was great, the visitors center and cylorama were great! Thousands of memorials dot the countryside, roadsides, and forest paths. The national cemetery is home to thousands of fallen soldiers of that war and 4 subsequent wars. Though beautiful and very interesting to see those places of which we had heretofore only read about, our thoughts were sobered remembering those who had fallen. "Right where I am standing now, a soldier fought and died."
The day we left Gettysburgh, our troubles began. Before we could leave the serpentine belt on the van had to be replaced, so we used the stupid GPS to find 3 different auto parts stores...the first two of which were no where to be found. We went for a hike to McDonald's while dad and Peter fixed the van, and Daniel picked up some friendly little blood suckers on the way. After beating all of the ticks off of him, we started down route 30, also known as the Lincoln Highway, which originates in New York City and ends up in San Francisco, I think. A major thoroughfare from the days of the epic road trip. That very day, just after going though Pitsburg the van stalled out on the interstate...started again...stalled 2 more times before we were able to get off the interstate.
I cannot describe the pit of fear that arose in my chest...other than it was the most nervous and afraid I have been in a very long time. Sufice to say, that we then ran up a hill to go to a gas station which did not exist, then a very nice, toothless young man from West Virginia gave us some gas.
We got to the gas station, gassed up, then the van would not start. Almost the same moment, the sky opened in a severe storm. Happy times, right? we were quite happy for the shelter of the gas station. A friendly Texan offered to jump us, but the car wasn't jumping.
Anyhow, to make a terribly long story short, we ended up stranded in a gas station for about 5 hours, I spent most of it attempting to obtain lodgings for that night (thank God the GPS and my phone held a charge for a few hours!). Suzy arrived in the oldsmobile to take 4 people with her. the tow truck came to tow the van (and the remaining 4 personel) into town...and a very interesting person was the driver. Covered in tatoos and spitting tobacco out the door every so often. He then took us to the hotel (where we could stay only Thursday night) and bade us farewell. Needless to say there was much heated emotion and frustration that night but we all made it through. The next day, we found an Holiday Inn 20 miles north in West Virginia...and let me tell you that ferrying 10 people back and forth in a
