Our road trip to Utah, was, in many ways, successful and enjoyable. Maggie and Jonas were truly stellar travelers. Seeing family was wonderful. The cabin Chris’ grandparents built for everyone up on the mountain they own is fantastic and is seriously, just a really, really great idea to keep the family together for years to come.

The one thing that did an excellent job overshadowing a lot of these wonderful things was our dirty, rotten, good for nothing lemon of a car. We had barely crossed the state line in Nevada when the check engine light came on. I watched the light for about thirty seconds before a high pitched squealing sound began. Chris was watching a movie in the car, so I hoped the odd noise was part of his show, ane right when I was about to turn to him and say, “honey. . .” he turned to me and freaked out. The noise was not coming from the movie. It was the car. And not only was the check engine light on, but the rpms were redlining. I know, I know, I’m an idiot.

We pulled over (what choice did we have?) Chris examined things, and we decided to drive to the next town and get things checked out. To make a very long story short: we stopped in four towns, paid four different mechanics about sixty bucks a pop, and nothing they did made any difference at all. We were pretty sure it was the transmission, but we couldn’t find a shop that dealt with them. We had to drive all the way to Utah before we could find someone to fix the transmission, and he couldn’t get to it until the day we were planning on driving home.

Chris stayed in Utah for two days waiting for the car to be fixed while the kids and I hitched a ride with my in-laws. I spent the entire fourteen hour drive in the middle front seat of the truck with my feet on the dash, where I read a forensic crime novel over my mom in law’s shoulder. As soon as we crossed onto the air force base, the truck got a flat, which I am sure happened because of my family’s negative vehicle vibes.

So, eventually, we all got home. The ordeal returned us to financial ruin, which I am getting used to what with the broken computer, broken fridge, and our children having simultaneous two inch growth spurts and requiring complete new wardrobes. Apparently when it rains, it really does pour.

Since both of our most recent traveling attempts have turned into huge crises, I will no longer be traveling. It is everyone else’s turn to come see me.