Experienced road trippers we are not.
Last weekend we made our way to New Jersey for the wedding of an extended cousin. This was a trip of firsts – the first trip as a family of five, the first trip in our mini-van, and the first road trip to the U.S. for our family ever. With all these "firsts", we were nervous, and excited.
Heading out into the open road was fun and exhilarating. With our newly installed XM satellite radio blaring out non-stop tunes (love the 80s and 90s station), we relished the music, the smooth ride and the fact that all three kids were strapped in and temporarily immobilised. We sailed along quite comfortably till we arrived at our on-the-way stopover destination, Scranton Pennsylvania (sound familiar? It’s the setting for the hit TV show, The Office).
After a surprisingly peaceful night – my 10-week old baby slept through the night for the first time – we awoke refreshed to complete our journey. We quickly devoured the free breakfast (a great bonus of staying at the Hampton Inn!) and jumped back into the van. We wound through the sensuous greenery of the Poconos, which are a sea of green at this time and dreamily peaceful. Suddenly, the car started to swerve and slow down – on the Interstate 81.
In the chaos and excitement of getting back on the road, we had FORGOTTEN TO GET GAS! Yes, I can’t even believe I’m admitting to this, but there we were: on I-81, in the middle of upstate New York, with our three kids five years and younger, with no gas. Talk about feeling stupid, we felt like the biggest losers on the planet. I was so verklempt with embarassment that I could barely articulate our predicament to the operator at AAA.
While were waiting for the AAA truck to arrive with some gas, a state trooper pulled up behind us. With him, this trooper brought a wonderful vision in white – the state emergency patrol vehicle….who had gas for us! An angel named Dale gave us 4 gallons of gas which got us to the nearest gas station to fill up. Can you believe it? I still can’t. One good thing, I don’t think I’ll ever let my gas tank run to empty again.
The rest of the trip was fairly smooth, though we did get lost a few times. I’m going to invest in a GPS system – it would have saved us at least 5 hours of driving aimlessly.
Here’s a view from our van as we were stranded with no gas (the nearest town was Blairstown, which I’m pretty sure is the town from the Blair Witch Project. How creepy is that?):
And here’s my husband and the Boy posing with the state trooper who helped us out!
And here’s a pic of us from the wedding and one of the stunning bride and groom!
It will be one of your boy’s oldest memories, for sure! I love the picture with the State Trooper (who looks like a big boy scout!)
The wedding looks wonderful. How beautiful! And your TEN WEEK OLD slept through the night. WOW. At least you seem to have a good attitude about your misfortune. Sounds like quite the adventure.
Oh, I hate to laugh at your misfortune, but that is a really funny story! Sounds like one to pull out over and over again for a really good family giggle. Sounds like you had fun in the end and the wedding looks like it would have been a blast. Stunning bride and groom indeed.