Denise had been awake most of the night. They stayed at the hospital with her sweet little Baby Rose until 3AM, so she'd had less than two hours of sleep. I said that I would drive the first half of the trip because I could use cruise control, for my foot, while in the desert then she could drive in the city where it was more stop and go traffic.
I'd been in the pool with my girls the day before and had left my sunglasses inside, so my eyes were burning. I rarely use sunglasses anymore because I'm always taking my readers off the top of my head and using them a sec then putting them back up... my "headband". I had my sunglasses on and left my glasses in my purse and couldn't see a thing on the dashboard because it's so close. If it's within three feet, everything's a blur! SO. Everytime I thought about the time, I'd ask Denise what time it was because I couldn't read the clock. Several times! I could see the 80mph on the dash and set the cruise control on it. We left St. George and were making great time!
As we were driving towards Scipio (about half way home), Denise said it was time for a potty break. I said, "I'll pass this semi and get off at this exit." I did exactly that. I got in front of the semi that was beside us, then tapped the breaks as we headed off the exit ramp. The car started slowing down. Only it was REALLY slowing down. I was giving it gas and nothing. I checked the gear shifter to make sure we hadn't bumped it into neutral. Nada. We kept slowing down. More and more. Denise was freaking out, "What's wrong with my car?" Then, I said, "Are we out of gas?" She looked at the dash and sure enough, we were out of gas! OUT OF GAS!!! She was DYING! But the cool thing was that we were, literally, on the exit ramp to the service station that was less than a block's distance away. It was no big deal! Except that it put us 20 minutes behind. We did call dispatch and let them know because we couldn't find the dang flashers on the car. But, Denise walked the block to the gas station and I waited for the officer and "gaurded the car". We'd prayed that we would travel safely and be blessed as we traveled. We could have run out of gas in the middle of that fourty mile stretch before us where there was no service. We were very blessed. Our prayers were answered! And we have a great story to tell... well, everyone but her husband.
I called Doug and told him what was happening. He called us "Thelma and Louise" and teased us a lot. A.LOT. We swore ourselves to secrecy that Denise's husband would not hear the details because he is nothing like Doug when it comes to laughing at our silliness. He would not have been happy! BUT. Like I said, we'd prayed, we were fine and all was well. Next time, I'll wear my glasses! I can't believe I did that. Oddly. We ALWAYS gas up in Scipio, just 20 more miles ahead. We decided that when Denise's son must have thought the tank was full when he gassed up the night before. The thingee must have tripped like it was full before it was. BECAUSE, I've made that trip for over twenty years now. One year, thirteen times. And we've ALWAYS gassed up in Scipio and Denise car gets better mileage than any car I've ever driven. That had to be the reason because we got great mileage and still had plenty of gas when we got back to Logan. Shhhhh. Don't tell a soul.
And yes, it's time for me to get bi-focals. All I saw was a red dot and a yellow dot and blurs that were numbers on that dashboard. If it had been my car, I'd have recognized the dots and known we needed gas. It's time. Denise blamed herself for not gassing up again in St. George from Vegas. No one was to blame. We were safe and fine and still laughing.
SO. Other than that excitement, it was a pretty uneventful trip to and from. Denise and I gabbed non-stop. I love that we never run out of things to talk about. EVER. How that happens, I don't know, after 27 years, but it's true. As for the rest of the trip, my time with Liza and Aylabelle was wonderful as always. Buddy treated us to dinner and cooked great food and Aylabelle kept us laughing. That girl is amazing! Here's a few pix from the trip. I didn't take as many as usual. We were having too much fun.
Lunch at Rumbi
There was a short thunderstorm each night that I was there and the sunsets were incredible. This was taken while I stood on Liza's patio and enjoyed the rain. Each night, Aylabelle and I took a little walk outside to the pool and back to find the blue-tailed lizard that we saw the first morning I was there. We never did find it again. But, the sunsets were fab!
She's a fish! We had a ball in the pool. The storm from the night before really blew a lot of leaves into the pool. The water was like a bath!
We sent this photo to Dale with a text that said, "There are three girls in this photo." A few minutes later, Dale responded, "Awesome!" He's having another niece!
Aylabelle fascinates me. She keeps herself entertained and entertains us non-stop. She's a smart one!
It was a great trip! And now, back to school. Life and routines and USU students! Life is good1
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