We had planned to leave to take Jessica to Utah on August 14th, we decided to leave a day earlier but could not leave until after Freshman Parent Orientation at the High School. That ended at around 8:30pm which meant we did not get on the road until around 9:00pm. We were towing Jessica's Jeep on the trailer to Utah, Jessica loaded her Jeep with what must have been everything she owned, my car was full with all of our luggage as well. We determined we would drive until we were tired and get a Hotel. We drove to just outside of Abilene only to realize that the trailer had one flat tire and one very low tire, something tells me it was because of the weight of the overloaded Jeep. Fortunately Chad being the Eagle Scout he is was prepared with 2 spare trailer tires. We pulled over to a semi lit area to change the tires, this was around 1:30am. While the kids slept, with the exception of Houston who was too curious to sleep, Chad and I changed the tires, OK Chad changed the tires and I held the light. It took quite some time because we did not have a hydraulic jack, the jack from my car was less than adequate for such a task. By the time we got the tires changed it was nearly 2:30am.
We drove to Abilene to find a Hotel, unfortunately others had a very similar idea and there was not a Hotel room available in this small town. We were too tired to keep driving and we needed to be near a tire store to replace the spares in the morning, it seemed the only solution was to sleep in the car. We found a well lit Hotel parking lot and did the best we could to get a good nights sleep, truth be told Chad and I got a total of 1-2 hours of sleep. The next morning we went to Lowes in an attempt to replace the spare tires, they had the tires but it was not until Chad had already taken one off that he ralized that the lug pattern did not fit. This required putting the tire back on and finding another solution, fortunately there was a Wal Mart near by. They had the exact right tire and were able to get two new tires put on the existing rims. By the time we left Abilene it was after 8:45am, not exactly what we had planned for day 2 of our journey. We drove all day on the 14th which also happened to be Hannah's birthday, she was less than happy about this but was a trooper none the less. I told both Houston and Jessica that because it was Hannah's birthday she could watch any movie she wanted and we would eat at any restauruant she chose. Hopefully that helped make the day and sacrifice a little easier.
We drove that day until almost 1:00am making it to Monticello, Utah. Tired and glassy eyed we drove to the first hotel only to discover they had NO VACANCY, this continued throughout this small town. What could possibly be going on in Monticello, Utah and what will we do now. We decided to drive to Moab a town we visit often and are very familiar with, once again we met with the same fate, NO VACANCY not one room available in the entire town. We must have checked over 15 Hotels along the way. All I could think is "not again there is no way I can sleep in the car again." We decided to drive to Green River, the next town on our route despite the fact that the Hotel managers in Moab said there were no rooms there either. We drove to Green River and checked the first of about 4 motels in the entire city, the first 3 had no vacancy. When we pulled up to the 4th motel I took one look at the place and told Chad I refused to sleep there, if he wanted to see if they had a room he would have to go in the lobby and ask. He did and after a few minutes of watching him talk to the motel clerk he walks out with an ear to ear grin dangling a room key. He was so proud of his accomplishment, all I could think at this point is there is no way I am staying at this motel that reminded me of something from a horror movie.
My better judgement took over and I decided that we all needed to get some sleep, especially Chad. We unloaded very sleepy kids and what luggage we needed and made our way to our room. As you will see from the pictures below it was worse than a Motel 8 much worse. We walked into the room and put down our bags and in unison all of the kids said "can we slepe in the car?", this seemed like a better option to me as well. Knowing that this was really our only option we pulled the comforter off the beds and everyone slept on top of the beds. Fortunately the kids had their own pillows and blankets which helped. We tried to get a good nights sleep and woke up early the next morning, everyone took quick showers and got ready faster than I ever thought possible and we hit the road again. That morning we tried to find somewhere to eat breakfast, no such luck in that small town. We had to drive 40 minutes to Price in an attempt to find decent food. Of course by then everyone was done serving breakfast so we founds ourselves at a gas station purchasing cereal, doughnuts, and muffins. Chad was so tired he purchased two egg rolls thinking they were egg burritos, boy was he surprised when he bit into his breakfast. We got stuck trying to leave Price by a closed road, they closed our side so that a wide load that could not fit under the overpass could be re-routed on our side of the road. By this time Jessica thought she would miss the first week of school if we did not get there soon. Once the road was opened it was finally smooth sailing the rest of the way. Needless to say once we arrived at my parents we were so relieved and happy. It is clearly a journey that we will all remember and something we can look back on now and laugh about.
We got a later start than planned and left at 9:00pm
The very scary Bookcliff Lodge in Green River, Utah
Stairwells with cobwebs, YIKES
All 3 kids sleeping in one bed on top of the covers, they are so sweet when they are sleeping...
