Welcome back Neil and glad everything was ok.

Yes Pat I did make it back ok last night around 2100 or so. I must tell you, that was the worst kind of weather anyone could ever want to drive in. We hit 8 different storm cells.......and when I say storm cells, these puppies were nasty......hit them from Kansas City all the way to the Ark boarder. It was nuts and talk about white knuckles and all. I told my paps I would need to buy him a new steering wheel as I think I left my prints on it HAHA. Anyway, back home and relaxing today, no work for me.

 

Welcome back Scott! I saw those storms on the news, they looked pretty damn bad! Good to see you made it back in one peice!

 

Afternoon everyone! And welcome back!

 

Good morning TN! Its my monday, so I am at it early. Have a good one.

 

Welcome back Scott, glad you made is aafely.

And yes my trip was one I don't ever want to do again.
A REAL BIG thanks to ccarrier and Huck for coming to my aid and helping get the baby and family back home safely.

 

Good morning Neal, Scott, and the rest of the TN crew! Neal, good to see you and the family made it home safe! Where did you go on vacation?

 

What a load of luck getting hit 3 miles from the beach Neal.

Glad your all safe!

So, other than the whole... getting hit in the rear, uh. How was the beach?

 

Afternoon. Muggy, with a good chance for some afternoon showers. I'm taking my truck to a buddy's garage to replace the clips on the door windows that keep the lever attached to the "shelf." One has broken and the other is about gone...gonna replace both with LMC replacements. 30 minutes or so of 'work' if all goes well.

 

no prob and anytime brother

 

Neal is there more to this story than we are picking up on? People coming to the rescue

 

Good morning to ya TN crew!

 

mornin guys!

 

Good morning Tennessee, happy Hump Day!

 

Good morning guys.

And yes, Tim there is more to it. If you have time I will tell it.

First of all I need to start off letting you know that our baby girl was 6 weeks and 3 days old when the journey began. Not to mention she is a little colicy.
Also to prelude the story, I bought the wife another truck, Honda Pilot, about a month prior because "the Excursion is toooo big". So I didn't sell the Ex just yet because I wanted to use it on this trip, size matters. But the weekend before we left I had a battery issue. Removed it and took it and swapped it. The other one is still good 3 yrs. old and the alt is 3 yrs. old also. So to be sure I drove the Ex to work all week. Ran fine.

I loaded the Ex up with 1.85 tons of beach crap and was ready to leave by 10:00am Friday morning.
Wouldn't you know it we don't leave till noon (remember the baby).
I go outside to start it up and cool down the seats and ... NO START!!!! DA**, f***, sh** and a few other words come out. So the little Honda bosts it off and I let it run to charge. No problems right? No! Had to boost again.
Finally now it is cool and running and get the whole family loaded up in the truck. Start down the driveway (1/2 mile) all is fine. get on the road 35 mph and feel like it is shifting funny. Pull out on the 4 lane and the OD light starts blinking. I am thinking the same words I said earlier but not outloud. Then I loose all gauges but still running. Going downhill fine looking for somewhere to stop safely. Then start up hill, press the acelerator and boom nothing. She just dies. Coast all the way back up the other hill and barely get it off the road.

Now it is well into the 90's outside and no A/C with a baby and family. Well much to my oposition we start walking to the nearest place with A/C. As it turns out it is a pizza joint so the wife orders a pizza and 3 sprites. I pay the $37.00 BILL!!!! di you hear that? $37.00 and it was the thinnest greasiest oil dripping pizza I have ever seen!

Anyway back to the story, I decide to walk back to the truck and let them enjoy their feast. I call Huck and ccarrier. Huck is on his way and cc is getting off work to come help. I pop the hood and find two blown fuses. Huck shows up and has fuses (nice knowing an electrician) and cc pulls up to boost me off. During all this the wife calls and says she is ready to go home to feed the baby. I take Huck's truck and get the family and take them home. The guys get the truck running and bring it back home for me. ALL THIS LESS THAT 1 MILE FROM HOME!!!

Well cc goes back to work and Huck and I diagnose. Only shows 11 volts running or not so we think alternator.
We unload the massive Excursion and CRAM it all into the Honda. You guessed it, nope I can't see out any of the rear windows. So we finally get on the road about 3:00pm thanks to those guys.

Now the fun begins. Leave on a trip with a colic baby at 3 in the afternoon... neveragain!
We didn't even make it to Asheville and had to pull over about 40 minutes into the trip. Burp the baby again stop crying and away we go again. This went on about every 30 to 50 minutes the whole way. Cry, stop, burp, go. Cry, stop diaper, go. Cry, stop, burp, go. Cry, stop diaper, go. Cry, stop, burp, go. Cry, stop diaper, go. You see the trend.
Well it gets about 9:00 and we are only in Columbia, S.C. and I realize I am going to have to pay for that motel in Conway even though I am not there. On top of that I have to pay for another one in Columbia.

I am going to try to shorten this story some for your reading pleasure. LOL.
We check in and the wife is getting a fever. The boy and I go out at 10:30 looking for a 24 hr Walgreen. Find it. Get medicine and locate a Doc-in-a-box for the wife in the morning. Get no sleep at night. The wife does though. She feels a little better the next morning, fever broke but still a little achy and scratchy throat. On we go.

This morning has to get better because it couldn't get worse. Well maybe!
We are able to start driving and get an entire 3 hours under our belt and not have to stop. We are starving and the boy has to pee bad but tough luck, as long as the baby is sleeping we are driving!
So we get to 2.8 miles from our beach house and have to stop for a turning car in front of us.
The wife yells "Neal the car behind us..." I glance over at the mirror since I can't see out the back and sure enough here he comes at us fast! I turn to the right to jump off the road or go around the truck turning in front of us and it happens. Yes, WHAM, we just got rearended HARD.

So the car that hit us is totaled, airbags, hood up both fenders sticking straight out. He dropped every type of fluid in that car on the ground.
Apparently before he hit us he veered slightly left which sent us to the right, where I was wanting to go in the first place just not near that fast! This saved us tremendously. Imaging getting squashed between a station wagon traveling 50-60 and a Chevy truck only 2.8 miles from your destination after the trip you just had? Anyway by the grace of God I got thrown to the right of the truck heading towards a culvert and a block wall. I reach back up and try to get my hands back on the wheel and turn to the left back in front of the Chevy back towards oncoming traffic, then yank it to the right and end up stopped in the middle of the road sideways in front of the truck I was just behind about 0.002 seconds ago.

Long story short (I know impossible) The baby goes to the hospital just to be sure she is OK. The boy hops in the truck with family that were a few miles behind us and I sit there waiting on the trooper since the county doesn't do accidents. I sit there for 3 hours. Needless to say I get there by 8:00 PM at night. The wife and baby and boy are already there thanks to family. I sit down and make a REAL stiff drink and begin my 'lovely' vacation.

We had a great time while there. Everybody is OK and alive and well. Life is grand. I put a mental block on the trip back home that is inevitable.

On the trip back home I was able to travel 1.5 to 2.5 hours at a time before stopping this time. It only took 9.5 hours to do a 6 hour or less trip.











All family vacations are cancelled for the next 12 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

 

Good morning Neal! You sure your name isn't Clark Griswold??LOL!! Wow, what a trip! I'm just glad everyone is okay. Thanks for sharing the story, it was good for a chuckle!!