Tuesday, August 12, 2008

HOUR ONE OF OUR VACATION


The sky was blue.

The sun was shining.

Perfect beach going weather.

The suburban was packed and I managed to leave everyone just enough room

to breathe.

Which is usually important when driving for an hour and a half.

The boat was filled with more poles and tackle than I am certain

any one person could possibly need .

Big Bertha
was brought out of the closet, blown up, and placed lovingly

on the boat.

Oh how we love our Big Bertha!

We were off for what was to be a glorious week at the beach.

Ten minutes into our drive there was a bump.

And a thump.

And a slight swerving of the boat.

And I knew all was not right in vacationland.

I looked out of my rearview mirror and saw the problem.

We had a flat tire.

On the boat trailer.

We pulled off the highway and Chad hopped out to investigate.





I hopped out too.

Armed with my new

Nikon
.

I had an empty memory card and a fully charged battery.

I could hardly wait to document our fun.

So I did.

Much to Chad's chagrin.

I snapped the first 16 photos of our vacation standing on the side of the road.






My strong, burly husband tried with all his might to get the tire off.

He tried.

And tried.

Nothing.

Some friendly folk from across the highway came out to see what all the

picture taking commotion was about.

Nice people.

No help.

Then a friend of ours passed by and stopped.

He was all dressed up in his Sundaygotomeeting attire.

What was he going to do?

He offered his moral support.







After 30 minutes of prying and pulling and wrestling with my children the tire,

an angel from on high was sent to us.

In the form of a Farm Service Provider.

With an Air Gun.

And power tools.

At first he was no help either.





But after much grunting, whining and sweating on my part...

the tire was off.

The spare was put on, my camera was put away, and we were off once again.

A small detour was made at Nana's house for her delicious fried chicken

and homemade biscuits.




A detour my thighs are still thanking me for.

And all was right in the world.

20 comments:

amanda said...

haha a detour for your thighs!!

i love it friend :)

sorry the trip got off to a rough start...can't wait to see what happenes next!

but seriously how crazy good are the pictures?? i feel like i am on the side of the road with you!!

wish i could have been!!

even if just to get to nana's house so my thighs could join yours!!

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

Your thighs, seriously, I'm dying here!

And, great pictures (especially of the food...30 minutes to lunch time).

And, the side of the road drama, good fun! Glad you captured it for all of us to enjoy! I wonder if AAA would cover a boat trailer.

I've got a story to tell about boat trailers...maybe I'll work on that one.

The Mom Jen said...

So did Big Bertha ever make it to water? That's what my BIL had when we went camping and our older two are addicted and are begging us to buy a boat!

Carol said...

Not the best of starts to your trip. You're so handy with your Nikon documenting every moment.

I am officially salivating over here.

Fried Chicken-Yummy!

Biscuits-We don't have them here.

I'm sad about it.

Stupid England.

Unknown said...

Oh no! I loved the documenting, though :)
And the fried chicken? Ohmygoodness that lucks amazing. Made my stomach growl just now amazing.
I can't wait for the next post!

Anonymous said...

Non-bloggers must really not understand the importance of photographing a flat tire. That chicken looks delicious and I don't even like fried chicken!

Hailey said...

The best vacations always start out crappy. May you have a wonderful week at the beach. May all go right in the world and if not oh well... at least you have your camera :-)

Kelli @ writing the waves said...

Hour One post down...only 167 hours to go. haha! Sorry your vacation got off to a bumpy start...but the fried chicken sure looks good. I'm starving. :P

Unknown said...

Sorry about your flat tire issue. That's never fun. Hope the rest of the vacation is issue-free! : )

(excuse me while I wipe the drool off of my laptop from looking at that fried chicken)

pb&j in a bowl said...

One of the best qualities about fellow bloggers is the ability to experience not so fun situations and know that it will make a great post. And that chicken looks deee-lish

Marla said...

a girl after my own heart... i would have jumped out with the camera too :O

as my parents always said... it is all part of the adventure...

can't wait to read all about the other adventures to come.

Beachy Mimi said...

That fried chicken looks fabulous! Love all the camera shots. Have fun and keep the Nikon handy.

Susan said...

Bad start to the vacation, but the detour looked wonderfully delicious!
Our 7 hour trip to the Outer Banks ended up being 13 hours due to accidents, bad weather and general traffic. Had I known that ahead of time I would have cried and probably stayed home. Thank God the kids were really good in spite of it.

McMommy said...

Is it weird that I'm licking my computer screen...hoping I can get a small taste of that chicken?!!?!

Yummmmmmmm!!!!!!!

The tire-changing pics were fantastic. How much did your husband love that you documented all of it?? :)

McMommy said...

Is it weird that I'm licking my computer screen...hoping I can get a small taste of that chicken?!!?!

Yummmmmmmm!!!!!!!

The tire-changing pics were fantastic. How much did your husband love that you documented all of it?? :)

Sue Wilkey said...

See? before you were a blogger this just would have been a bummer. Now? Blog-food!!!!!!!!!!

kelly said...

ahh! bummer! i know the miseries of a flat! i feel for you.

duchess said...

All's well that ends with fried chicken. It can make even the worst day wonderful.

So glad you had that Nikon. I anxiously await more. Maybe this time we'll even see some salt water.

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

I just love how you describe things! Your posts are so fun!
We had a vacation start out with a flat tire on a trailer last year and I too got pix of the guys out trying to fix it! Fun memories, huh?! :)

leah said...

i know sir grant's back side when i see it.

why why why do i not have any bone-in chicken in my freezer!?! WHY!!!