Do you have a memorable road trip story? Near perfect – Near tragedy – Perfect serendipity?
If yes, blog it here.
Road Trip
6 thoughts on “Road Trip”
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Do you have a memorable road trip story? Near perfect – Near tragedy – Perfect serendipity?
If yes, blog it here.
Comments are closed.
I took a road trip to Gettysburg with my husband. We stopped to buy gas in Maryland and our car wouldn’t start afterwards. We got a jump start from a Good Samaritan and drove directly to an AutoZone shop in Gettysburg to purchase a new battery. We were worried that if we stopped the car it wouldn’t start again. As the saying goes, all’s well that ends well.
I’ve got a dead battery story.
After a jump, I drove from Jerome, MI to Lima, Ohio before getting a new battery. Things went unexpected from there. Seems a new hired hand at the shop was learning his craft – on my car -and didn’t get it quite right.
The car started — after a few tries. But there’s the rest of the story —
Not a road trip exactly, but more of a traveling adventure: my cousin was working in Cairo and I happened to be in the region. We hadn’t seen each other in some time, and planned a meeting which coincided with a visit from his father/my uncle. An adventurous young Japanese woman completed our group. The four of us spent about a week together, exploring ancient ruins, navigating crowded markets, drowning in the density of traffic, wandering through museums, touring Coptic churches, resting in teahouses, celebrating birthdays, trying local restaurants, and sampling the city’s street food. Our somewhat unlikely assembly in an unexpected city infused our adventures with a mystical, random quality, which enhanced our appreciation and enjoyment of them. I cherish these days, and hope to remember them as long as I live.
In September of 2017 we were returning home from a trip out west, enjoying the cattle dotted terrain. We even saw some cowboys wrangling up the cattle up on a hill.
All of a sudden we saw a hawk looking like he was ready to dive-bomb us through the windshiled!
Even in the enclosed car, we both ‘ducked’ as we thought our car was going to get struck. It was a near miss! Whew! Still can’t figure it out!
In August of 1971, shortly after I got out of the Army, myself and three Buffalo buddies embarked on a cross-country trip in a van. We were gone four weeks and visited a bunch of national parks and monuments, including Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Pike’s Peak, Monument Valley, Zion, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas (which should be declared a national monument). Pretty ambitious, but we were able to pull this off because camping was cheap (usually $3 a night) and gas was cheaper (around 30 cents—or less—a gallon). Lots of memorable sights and remarkably, we were still on speaking terms at the end of the trek.
It was in the late summer of 1971. My sister and I were traveling in a VW Beetle from New Mexico to our home state in Michigan via California. We decided to experience the ‘wild west’ before heading east.
We, happy-go-lucky sisters, enjoyed the trek home until we encountered unseasonal snow in Wyoming. Warned about early winter conditions, we secured tire chains to prevent skidding, however, skid we did.
The car leaped half-way over a guard rail and stopped. All I could see from my window was a deep valley. My sister and I carefully slid out the passenger side of the teetering car as a patrol officer guided us to safety.
Numb with the experience, the officer recognized our helplessness and offered a ride to his house. He arranged for retrieval of the car, re-assembly of the luggage, a warm home-cooked meal, a place to sleep, morning breakfast, and a happy send-off. Somewhere in my stash of diary notes is this story and the name of our Good Samaritan.
When my sister and I recall this experience we just glance at each other, nod, and gently smile, knowing full-well the outcome if God was not at our right hand.