Moab- Day 1

Yesterday we uploaded our camping pictures to the family computer. Between the two of us, Carley and I took 1,555 photos! That's a lot of Kodak moments! I love the digital age that allows us to take as many photos as our memory cards will allow. We spent hours looking through the images and oh how we laughed! It was definitely a good trip and it beats the pants off of last year's trip that had us hunkering down to survive the 75mph icy wind that tried to bury us in the red sand.

This year Mom and Dad decided to make the excursion with us. We were thrilled that they were able to bring Ella with them also. They headed off with Hubby and some of the girls around 11am but I had to wait three and a half hours before leaving with my group because Emily was still on her way home from her California choir trip. It was hard for me to be left behind but sometimes there's no avoiding it so I sucked it up and tried to stay positive. Poor Emily was only home long enough to take a shower and change her clothes before we threw her back in the car to hit the road. She was such a trooper about backtracking all those miles she had just barely traveled to get home! I was eager to get to Moab as quickly as possible to meet up with the rest of our group and to escape the winter weather that was bearing down northern Utah.

About 30 miles into our journey I had an incoming call from Hubster.  We had been texting back and forth with the girls so I knew that they had to be within minutes of arriving at the campsite. I admit that I was looking forward to arriving at a campsite that was already set up, fire blazing and happy greetings all around. That vision was what kept me from being sad as they drove away without me earlier that day.  BUT...... that vision quickly evaporated with the phone call from Hubby...  I should have expected it. I have written many times about our cursed luck with vacations. I don't know what it is, but something in the Universe has it out for us and something always goes wrong on our trips. Always. Hubby was calling me to let me know that the truck had broken down. Again! They were about an hour away from Moab and were going to try to call a tow truck even though it was Sunday and that meant we were going to have to pay an astronomical fee to get the truck and trailer towed into town. I vaguely remember saying to Hubby something along the lines of how I was sick of our horrid luck and I was never, NEVER going on vacation again. My family was stuck on the side of the road and I was at least three hours away from reaching them, even if I floored it and dared every policeman in the state to pull me over for excessive speeding.  I felt helpless... and a little hopeless. Damn our luck!

I was driving as quickly as possible, through the pelting rain and my own anxiety, when Madi called me with an update. Just the sound of my girl's voice pushed me over the edge and the tears began to flow.  Madi quickly turned the phone over to my Mom who calmed me down as she explained that she had called her AAA and they were on the way to pick up the truck and trailer at no cost to us. (I'm thinking we need to look into getting AAA with as often as we travel!) Mom went on to say that her prayers were more powerful than our bad luck and she reassured me that everything was going to be fine. I felt better knowing help was on the way and would likely get to them long before I could.  I promised to check in with them once I was out of the canyon and had cell service again. (But I still kept my speed at at least 10mph over the speed limit.. I felt the need to get to my family quickly!) An hour later we were out of the canyon and refilling the Jeep's gas tank when we heard from Bill that the tow truck had arrived and that they were all headed to Moab. I breathed a sigh of relief that they were no longer stranded on the side of the road!

Abby, Emily and I reached Moab about 5pm and we headed straight to the campsite. I knew the rest of my girls were stranded at McDonalds but until I dropped off my passengers I didn't have room for more. (The adults in charge of them had dropped them off out of necessity because they no longer had the truck and the trailers and camping supplies would have to be brought to the campsite in several trips.) I practically pushed Abby and Em out the doors and hastily left their bags and blankets on a rock next to Mom and Dad's camping trailer. I didn't wait to see if Hubby was following in Dad's truck because I had five girls to rescue from McDonalds!

The icy wind had followed us from Layton and it had been a long, stressful day... but when I pulled into the parking lot of the McDonalds where my girls had been "abandoned" hours earlier, I was met with excited giggles and happy chatter as they caught me up on what they had been doing to entertain themselves while they waited for rescuing. There are no words to describe how much I love these girls! I was so happy to be reunited with them and I squeezed them all into the Jeep to get them to the campsite ASAP.  We had to laugh over how ironic it was that my group reached the campsite before the girls that hit the road long before we did. What an eventful day it had been for them!

Some of the hilarious comments from the "Abandoned Children" after they were rescued: 

"Next time Grandma gives us money, drops us off at McDonalds and says she'll be right back, I will say Nuh-Uh Grandma! I want your credit card and you can drop us off at Olive Garden instead!"

"You ABANDONED us at McDonalds! We now have Child Protective Services on speed dial!"

"You could have WALKED to camp in the 2 hours that you sat here waiting for someone to pick you up..."  Response: "Yes, but we didn't know which way camp WAS!"

The evening was well under way by the time we got to camp and began the rushed, and seemingly desperate process of setting up our camp before the dark descended upon us. The only problem was that we had to wait for Hubby and Dad to go get our trailer so we could set up the tents! We huddled together in Mom and Dad's trailer to stay warm while we waited. There was no shortage of laughter in that trailer as the girls playfully teased Mom about being scarred for life because they were abandoned at McDonalds.  When the trailer finally arrived, we sprang into action and began to set up tents and unload as quickly as possible. Seeing my family in action was an amazing sight! We were organized and efficient as everyone worked together to pitch tents, unload the trailer and make our cozy beds for the night. But the firewood was still in the truck which was back at the garage in town, so we had to make one more trip to unload the truck.

We were freezing and exhausted by 9pm but we had accomplished the daunting task of setting up camp in spite of the huge setback with the truck earlier that day. We didn't get a campfire that night but we were all together and the teamwork that I witnessed and was part of was simply amazing to behold! Each of us huddled under sleeping bags and blankets in the arctic cold and tried to get some sleep. We knew that the next morning would bring new opportunities for fun and we were eager to enjoy our spring camping trip. I am so grateful to my parents for taking such great care of my family on that difficult journey, and I am equally grateful to my girls for their hard work and selflessness that day!

I have an amazing family! Stay tuned for more of our Moab adventures!