We had such a great plan! After dinner on Saturday night we came home and packed up everything and did our house cleaning chores. Almost everyone when to bed early. Our alarms were set for 5AM...getting ahead start before the throngs exited the beach.
James and the Giant Peach was just getting interesting when I get a text...
'We have a flat and are at the Funeral Home'. Thank heavens we were only about two minutes ahead...U-turn takes us back. We are still ahead of the game. Cassie gets on the phone with the insurance company...help will be on it's way in 1 1/2 hours.
We had planned to travel a few hours and then stop at Crackle Barrel or Bob Evan's for a good hearty breakfast. None of those around. So Auntie Em sets out to make a big batch of lemonade out of all of our lemons.
Oh, and did she ever find a dandy! Next trip to the beach we are stopping here for breakfast. Why is it that all the dives have the greatest food and the nicest people? The egg and sausage sandwiches are so good that we went back for seconds.
Mary, head chef and owner, could not have been any nicer! Emmy got to talking to everyone behind the counter and then the customers chimed in. Come to find out that one of the employees from the near by tire store was having breakfast with his girlfriend. She translated our dilemma to him and he said that the shop would be open at 7AM. Good news...it was right down the street from where were camped out and they were going to open in 15 minutes.
coffee, chocolate milk, and lots of delicious donuts!
Meanwhile back at the flat tire....major problem...the wheel won't come off! It is stuck and we have no way of getting it off. Kind of hard to kick the tire with you flip flops. Auntie Em again to the rescue. She has already talked to her boys at the tire shop and are sending someone right over.
Meanwhile, we set up a little picnic.
If you would like to see more documentation of our little adventure home just follow our little adventure on Instagram #oakesreturnfromthebeach
One of the best lines of the day...'people are just dying to get in'.
This is our friend Jamy. He is the best guy ever! He took extra good care of us. I don't know if it was that we had a boat load of kids and he felt sorry for us on the side of the road, or we looked so sad, or there was this crazy lady with a camera stalking him from every angle, or the smell of the fresh donuts.
We think we might need to go to Lowes and purchase one of these special tire remover thingies. He says our problem is not only a flat tire that is sort of welded to the axel? because steel and aluminum do that, we also need a new tire, this one is shot.
How many of us does it take to put on a spare? Lots evidently!
After inspecting the other tires, Jamy determined that we might need to purchase two new rear tires. No worries that have them in stock at Black's Tire Service.
Jamy said that we were extremely lucky it happened when and where it did. Wouldn't want to be out on the Interstate and have something happen. And if it had happened any later in the day, like after, noon...Black's would have been closed. And everything is closed on Sunday. So we would have had an unexpected nights stay in NC. That would not have been too swift...Mark and Trevor had to work on Sunday.
Really nice people. I think we talked to them all. Worked as quickly as they could so we could get back on the road.
While we were there Ellis found a frog. 'Wammy, can we take it in the van?'
I said yes as long as it stayed in a cup. We all know where this is going...
From the back I hear
'Oh, no!'
'What's wrong Ellis?'
'I'll find it!'
'Ellis, it is on my Pepsi!'
The look of terror and she is really going to kill me know was priceless!
Somewhere along the road in VA poor Monkey kicked the bucked. The conversation Ellis had with Cassie must have been priceless. It went something like this. 'I blew air into his mouth....I even pushed on his belly. I think he might be dead.' But Ellis ordered iced tea for lunch in hopes that it would revive him. We gave him a burial in the grassy part of the parking lot. Trevor said a few words, him being a pastor and all...'Monkey was a good little frog. He lead a good life, but he croaked.' Then Ellis tossed him in the bushes.
.
Back in the van they finally crashed after a movie and the rest of our book on tape. We tried A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket but found it a little too sad and unpleasant. We settled into a rhythm of drive a little, sit in long lines of traffic, watch it rain, move a little, texting to find everyone's 10-20, a little more driving, toll paying, candy eating...al the way across VA and into WV. We stopped at Mamaw's to celebrate her 86th birthday with family and visited with my Dad to see how he was feeling. Emmy, Ellis and Alaire stayed in WV while the rest of us headed for our beds at home. Cassie and Trevor got home around 2AM to be greeted by a happy puppy. We dropped Wyatt off to excited parents around 11PM. Ella Bella was excited to see Mark and Michael but she cried when she saw me. The chickens just talked up a store this AM when I greeted them with some sunflower seed treats.
Al's well on the home front...Sarah kept all the flowers and vegetables alive. Luke passed papers and made sure the rabbits had everything they needed. CSA pick-ups went with only one small problem and the chickens are all accounted for and happy.
I am sure there are more stories from this adventure but I am too tired to think of them. When the girls remind me of them, I will be sure to post it on here to share with all of you.
Now put all the beach stuff away and get ready for a camping trip!
