The Night from H-E Double Hockey Sticks!

This is the entire(long) story of our family trip to southern Utah!

My hubby got a new job and he starts soon,but he had to go to Blanding, Utah on a business trip with his old job. So I thought what the heck, lets ALL go.

We have had a few car problems before the trip, so I had bought a new battery. Then the day we were suppose to leave, I had the car checked and we needed to replace the alternator as well. So my brother-in-law came over & helped Steve fix the car and we were good to GO! We left around 9pm, the kids watched a movie and then fell asleep. So I drove all the way to Monticello Utah, while everyone was sleeping in the car. It was kind of relaxing...and I saw a lot of shooting stars, so that was cool! The next morning, Steve took the car & went to work. The kids and I woke up- got some continental breakfast and we walked to see the temple. It was very small & beautiful. Then Steve came back to get us & we drove further south to Blanding, Utah! Steve was working on a church, so we hung out there for a while. The boys rode their scooters around, we walked to the nearby elementary school and played on the playground....we walked and got some lunch. Steve finished and we went to the dinosaur museum & the boys LOVED IT! It was a decent sized museum, for such a small town. It was also shockingly reasonably priced, so we let the kids buy something in the gift shop. Hj picked a brontosaurs & Po picked this paleontologist kit. It was this block of chalk, that had TINY bones buried within it. He could not wait to break out the tools and start digging! He made the BIGGEST mess of the hotel room, but he had so much fun. We still can not figure out how to put those TEENY bones together!

We swam a lot & had some good times! The next day we did some city hopping, as Steve finished up his jobs. Just before dinner time, we made it to Moab. We walked around the shops, bought some shirts & souvenirs. Then we ate at Zax Pizza and it was SO YUMMY! The napkins were bandannas & Steve tied them onto the kids' heads, they were so cute. Around 9pm, we hit the road. Kenz was falling asleep, the boys were watching a DVD & our battery light is on. Then an hour later, our lights start flickering & we pull over and our car dies! SERIOUSLY!?

I was trying not to panic. My boys were so worried! "Mom are we swanded?!"
We are stranded, but its okay, we should probably say a little prayer & we did. I eventually waved some guys down to jump start our van. It didn't work, so Steve asked if they would be willing to sit there and let it idle, so our battery could charge. They agreed & as we sat there, I was fighting back the tears! My family is stuck in the middle of NOWHERE!! And it is pitch BLACK out here! The guys leave & we started up our van again and started driving. We passed a sign that tells us we are 35 miles from Price, Utah. Then everything went BLACK, all the lights on the car went off & we could not see ANYTHING. Steve then needed to drive the van to the side of the road, in the dark. After he stopped the car, I got the flashlight out and looked out my window and we were about a foot from a small hill, that was off the shoulder! Holy cow, we could have gotten our van seriously stuck. Since our van was COMPLETELY dead this time, we decided to call Steve's Dad.


It was such a blessing that we passed the sign that told us WHERE we were, so we could be rescued! We waited for 3 LONG hours for his Dad to get to us. Steve and the kids slept as we waited, I just sat in the van, in the darkness. It was so dark, I couldn't really tell if my eyes were open or closed. It seemed like anytime I closed my eyes to get some sleep, a HUGE diesel would come roaring past us & rock our car back and forth. I was so happy to see his Dad's face. He had brought several car batteries & different battery charging devices. So they got us a new battery & off we went! We drove for about 30 minutes, until our van died again. NO! Not again. So we pulled over & Steve's dad flipped around and pulled up in front of us, so they could change out the battery again. New battery, off we went, but not for long....this time it was only 10 minutes until the lights started to flicker. We were becoming experts at knowing when our car was about to die.
1st- the clock light would start to flicker & go out
2nd- the ABS brake light would go on & stay on
3rd- the headlights would start to flicker
4th- Steve would not be able to push on the gas or control the car very well
Lastly, everything would go black!

We pulled over time & time AGAIN! So many times it was getting ridiculous! Finally we were at the mouth of the canyon, just outside of Price. It was about 3am and all the kids were awake & crying. They wanted to be home & sleep in their beds and so did I!! Finally Steve took the battery out of his Dad's van and put it in ours! We took off like a bat out of (you know where!) We really needed to get out of the canyon, there was construction through out & concrete barriers on the side and there was no where we could have pulled over. Po said "Mom, I think we need to say another prayer!" I was so done with this night, I started crying while I was praying. I was grateful we made it through the canyon & we actually made it all the way home on this battery!! I was so happy to just park the van & go to BED! We started our journey at 9pm and ended it at 5:30am. This was HANDS down, the WORST night of my life!!


Another frustrating thing- I took the van in today to get it checked & all the results came back normal! The battery & alternator are testing fine, no problems! Good & bad I guess. BTW, if you are still reading this, I am impressed!! :)