Two blog posts in one day? How do I possibly have this much time on my hands?
Saturday, we spent the night with no air conditioning in our room. But, we were happy to have a place to sleep. When we got up,we discovered people sleeping in their cars in the parking lot. I was loading the car and my hotel key stopped working. I had to walk around to the front of the hotel to get back in. I found most of the friendly hotel employees sitting on the curb, enjoying their morning coffee and cigarettes. They told me they had all been given free rooms because they still had no power at home. I asked if they knew there were people sleeping in cars. I was hoping they might have compassion and offer a free breakfast to these people. "Gee. I would sleep in my car out front of my house instead of in a strange place," said one. I explained that these people were traveling and were stranded. No luck. If Les had been with us, I would have invited some of these people into our room. But, at least they had cars. As we traveled farther west on I-64, we discovered people sleeping in the shade under the overpasses.
The morning passed, leaving us with beautiful impressions of rolling Kentucky hills and horse farms. Then, the AC in my car stopped working. This was a big surprise, as I just had my car serviced last week. We stopped at a service plaza in Somewhere In the Middle of Nowhere, Indiana. The friendly guy at the counter offered to call his buddy who ran the parts department at Sears and see if he would open up and try to help. Sears was about 25 miles in the opposite direction. This was too big a risk. The guy then offered the name and number of a friend who services cars round the clock. I reached this gentleman, who had just sat down to Sunday dinner with his family. He offered to get to me in 90 minutes or so. Hmmm. . . I could stand inside the service plaza with my kids, looking like a bunch of shoplifters. Or, we could bake outside. I thanked him and decided to push on.
We followed billboards advertising "Truck service 24/7," to Somewhere Else In the Middle of Nowhere, Indiana. Although the place was staffed, it seems that Sunday doesn't fall under "24/7." However, I met a very friendly lady trucker who admired my pink nail polish. We swapped trade secrets for awhile and I learned about the new, magnetic polishes while the girls washed their faces in the restroom. We decided to go on to the hotel and regroup. We reached the city of O'Fallon, IL, around 4:00 p.m. Incredibly, there is a Ford dealer right across the street from the hotel. The hotel clerk brought the girls fresh cookies and told me that he used to work for Ford. He explained that the service department opens at 7 a.m. and he was sure they'd be able to look up my warranty. Luck was really with us as I realized time had changed. We had the whole evening ahead of us plus one extra hour. We settled in, went for a swim and had a great dinner at Red Lobster. Our waitress stuffed a container with cheesy-garlic biscuits for our breakfast.
7:01 a.m. found us at the Ford place. Chris, the on-duty mechanic, listened to my story and told me that he had a line of waiting cars. I said, "Listen, Chris. My kids and I spent yesterday afternoon turning into puddles of liquid. We resorted to opening the windows and letting the searing, dry wind tear through the car. When I pulled off the Interstate and saw the Ford sign, I felt the way most people feel when they see The Statue of Liberty for the first time."
Chris softened. He came outside and turned on the AC. He couldn't find anything wrong. However, he advised me to leave the car so they could check the vehicle computer and see if it recorded a malfunction. We walked back to the hotel. The day crew told us we can stay as long as we need to, no extra charge. They invited the girls to help themselves from the collection of books. We are taking advantage of the unscheduled downtime to relax and enjoy each other's company. And, that is why I have time to blog!
Monday, July 2, 2012
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Who has gas?
Who has gas? That's a question that's occasionally uttered around our house. Little did I know how many times I would be asking that question yesterday.
It was the first day of our cross country trip. We pulled out of the driveway at 8:07 a.m., only seven minutes behind our planned schedule. There were a few
pieces of last-minute laundry spread across the back of the seat to dry . Everything else was going according to plan. The morning went smoothly. The girls amused themselves with a card game that requires the players to try to locate various items while traveling. For example, they had to find a personalized license plate; a sign with a 1-800 number; an American flag; and a hotel sign. Cassie let Lacey look for the ocean for about 10 minutes. But, there were no hard feelings.
Friday night we had experienced a tremendous thunderstorm with heavy winds at home. We had not lost power. We never lose power because our lines are buried underground. I had caught enough of the news to know that there were quite a few people in Virginia without power. But, it never occurred to me that West Virginia might be without power.
Everywhere we went there were trees down. Many of the trees had already been cut and cleared. I have to give credit to the people who must have been working before dawn.
We stopped for a short break at a rest stop mid-morning. Shortly before noon, I pulled off the highway into a small town, planning to buy some drinks and find a place for a picnic lunch. We were in West Virginia, so the only places to stop were small towns. We headed down the main street, only to find a couple of men waving their arms wildly at all the cars entering town. They were trying to let drivers know that there was no power in town and all businesses were closed.
We got back on Interstate-64, which bears multiple signs proclaiming it to be the High Technology road. Clearly, technology can't compete with nature.
We drove on down to the next town. There was a line about half a mile long of cars trying to exit. These were people in search of gas.
We continued down the road to the next rest stop. The parking lot was full and I had to wait for someone to leave before we could park. The rest stop was using a generator so the bathrooms worked. A delegation from the local 4H club was passing out food and lemonade to all the travelers who were without food. These kind folks informed me that almost the entire state of West Virginia was without power. They didn't know where drivers could find gas. All they knew was that the radio station from the town of Beckley was broadcasting and this might mean that the town had power. We spread out our picnic lunch: salmon, honeydew melon, sweet peppers, cucumbers, tzatziki sauce, crackers, and hummus. A couple who had been phoning around for help told us that we could backtrack for about 50 miles and join the throng we had passed. Or, we could try heading to Charleston, about 150 miles away. I couldn't get a signal on my phone. So, we hit the road.
I was finally able to get through to Les. He phoned our hotel and confirmed that It WAS OPEN! He also gave me the number to an information line for travelers in West Virginia. The number was busy so I eventually gave up and kept driving. I told the girls to look for gas stations that had cars in front of them. This was virtually impossible as the towns we were passing were so small they couldn't really be seen from the highway. But, it gave them something to do.
About 20 miles down the road I stopped at another small town that looked promising. We found the sole gas station and discovered cars lined up at the pumps. I found my place in line and sat. After about five minutes without movement I realized that everyone was just resting and maybe waiting for power to be restored. They are probably still sitting there.
We headed for the Interstate again. I checked my vehicle status and the dashboard told me that I could go another 174 miles before running out of fuel. According to the travel log, we were about 140 miles from our hotel. But, it was really hot outside and my car was burning fuel climbing mountains. We were out of drinking water and the girls were starting to complain. I told them we'd stop at the next town and look for some vending machines. There was a next town. But, there were no vending machines. We had about 40 miles to go before we reached the town of Beckley. I knew that I had enough fuel to get to the hotel. But, I wanted to fuel up as soon as possible because I didn't know if there would be gas available near the hotel. I kep the air conditioner on low, hoping this would conserve gas. I also coasted downhill when possible. As I coasted down one huge hill, my dashboard notified me that I was averaging 99.9 miles per gallon!
The girls were great sports. At one point, Brown Bear got a little nervous. She crawled up to the front seat with me to keep her eyes on the gas gauge. The town of Bentley came through. A service plaza there had gas. We only sat in line for about 20 minutes because state police were directing traffic and overseeing the rationing of fuel.
We made it to our hotel in Huntington, WV and learned that most areas, including Charleston, were still without electricity. Cars were lined up outside the hotel, hoping for cancellations. The few local restaurants had crowds outside waiting to be seated. To expedite dinner, we settled for a small Mexican restaurant that had no air conditioning.
All in all, it was an interesting day. As I told Cassie, she certainly has something to put in her travel journal. And, as Les told me, the experience gave me something to blog about.
Friday night we had experienced a tremendous thunderstorm with heavy winds at home. We had not lost power. We never lose power because our lines are buried underground. I had caught enough of the news to know that there were quite a few people in Virginia without power. But, it never occurred to me that West Virginia might be without power.
Everywhere we went there were trees down. Many of the trees had already been cut and cleared. I have to give credit to the people who must have been working before dawn.
We stopped for a short break at a rest stop mid-morning. Shortly before noon, I pulled off the highway into a small town, planning to buy some drinks and find a place for a picnic lunch. We were in West Virginia, so the only places to stop were small towns. We headed down the main street, only to find a couple of men waving their arms wildly at all the cars entering town. They were trying to let drivers know that there was no power in town and all businesses were closed.
We got back on Interstate-64, which bears multiple signs proclaiming it to be the High Technology road. Clearly, technology can't compete with nature.
We drove on down to the next town. There was a line about half a mile long of cars trying to exit. These were people in search of gas.
We continued down the road to the next rest stop. The parking lot was full and I had to wait for someone to leave before we could park. The rest stop was using a generator so the bathrooms worked. A delegation from the local 4H club was passing out food and lemonade to all the travelers who were without food. These kind folks informed me that almost the entire state of West Virginia was without power. They didn't know where drivers could find gas. All they knew was that the radio station from the town of Beckley was broadcasting and this might mean that the town had power. We spread out our picnic lunch: salmon, honeydew melon, sweet peppers, cucumbers, tzatziki sauce, crackers, and hummus. A couple who had been phoning around for help told us that we could backtrack for about 50 miles and join the throng we had passed. Or, we could try heading to Charleston, about 150 miles away. I couldn't get a signal on my phone. So, we hit the road.
I was finally able to get through to Les. He phoned our hotel and confirmed that It WAS OPEN! He also gave me the number to an information line for travelers in West Virginia. The number was busy so I eventually gave up and kept driving. I told the girls to look for gas stations that had cars in front of them. This was virtually impossible as the towns we were passing were so small they couldn't really be seen from the highway. But, it gave them something to do.
About 20 miles down the road I stopped at another small town that looked promising. We found the sole gas station and discovered cars lined up at the pumps. I found my place in line and sat. After about five minutes without movement I realized that everyone was just resting and maybe waiting for power to be restored. They are probably still sitting there.
We headed for the Interstate again. I checked my vehicle status and the dashboard told me that I could go another 174 miles before running out of fuel. According to the travel log, we were about 140 miles from our hotel. But, it was really hot outside and my car was burning fuel climbing mountains. We were out of drinking water and the girls were starting to complain. I told them we'd stop at the next town and look for some vending machines. There was a next town. But, there were no vending machines. We had about 40 miles to go before we reached the town of Beckley. I knew that I had enough fuel to get to the hotel. But, I wanted to fuel up as soon as possible because I didn't know if there would be gas available near the hotel. I kep the air conditioner on low, hoping this would conserve gas. I also coasted downhill when possible. As I coasted down one huge hill, my dashboard notified me that I was averaging 99.9 miles per gallon!
The girls were great sports. At one point, Brown Bear got a little nervous. She crawled up to the front seat with me to keep her eyes on the gas gauge. The town of Bentley came through. A service plaza there had gas. We only sat in line for about 20 minutes because state police were directing traffic and overseeing the rationing of fuel.
We made it to our hotel in Huntington, WV and learned that most areas, including Charleston, were still without electricity. Cars were lined up outside the hotel, hoping for cancellations. The few local restaurants had crowds outside waiting to be seated. To expedite dinner, we settled for a small Mexican restaurant that had no air conditioning.
All in all, it was an interesting day. As I told Cassie, she certainly has something to put in her travel journal. And, as Les told me, the experience gave me something to blog about.
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