Moments That Take Your Breath Away: Eventful trip to California

Well, our trip to CA was quite eventful last week. We started out very early on our drive. Everyone was asleep (except me, thank goodness) when I smelled something. I knew Miss Amelia must have had another poopy diaper. She has had diarrhea for a couple weeks now- finally cut two more teeth to let us know what that was about. All I had on my mind was getting to the next rest area to change her. Turned out it was a total blowout. I had to give her a bath in the sink, wash her clothes out and clean out the seat - DISGUSTING!! So, my focus wasn't really on how much gas we had- minor detail, right?... Well, I remember seeing the "last services" sign before the rest stop but naturally wasn't on my mind once the blowout happened. I kept driving and realized the gas station wasn't the 50 or so miles away I thought I remembered the sign saying. So, you guessed it, we ran out of gas. Thankfully it was early (about 7 am) so not hot yet. I immediately called AAA to come help us. While I was on the phone, Ammon started walking with the kids to the next sign to see where we were. Before I knew it, someone had pulled over offering to take Ammon to get gas and bring him back. While still on the phone, he took off. I was like "should I cancel AAA" and he said "yes" as he was leaving. So, I trusted our fate to some strangers I didn't even know or had even seen and off they took Ammon.

[Hmmmm, this was strangely reminiscent of our trip TO Arizona for a job interview over Thanksgiving 4 years before when our transmission went out. Ammon hopped in the car with some strangers then too who took him to the airport to rent a car so he could make it to his interviews (good because he got one of those jobs) AND leaving myself, Connor and my brother Jason, who was traveling with us- and vies never to do so again, can't blame him, - to fend for ourselves (very bad because we were stranded).]

I still am irritated at Ammon about that situation to this day. But, that's my man--he's got to "DO" something about our problem and darn the consequences to the waiting family. Thankfully, this time, we weren't stranded all day. We were very lucky the people that picked him up weren't murderers or crazies. In fact, they were quite nice (I did meet them once they brought Ammon back 30 minutes later). They said they saw Ammon walking along the road with his kids and knew he was safe (they had 5 kids in the car themselves). So, we got gas--2 little 1-gallon each cans at $11 each (yeah, these middle-of-nowhere gas stations can get away with robbing you when you're desperate) and filled up the tank enough to get us to that same very expensive gas station to fill up the rest of the way.

Thankfully, because we left so early, this mishap didn't put us too far behind schedule and we made it to grandpa's house just after lunch.

Ammon's grandpa lives out in Palos Verdes Estates in the same house for the past 50 years. Such a beautiful location right near the beach and smack dab at the top of the mountain with a perfect view of the beach, ocean and city lights. We love being there and especially enjoy visiting with grandpa. He is 88 years old and we keep dreading each visit may be our last. We would love and hope to have him around for many years to come.