Monday: We get a call from our son Aaron who was making his way from Pensacola FL with two friends on their way to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonion TX for some additional training. The three had been in Pensacola for some time and Aaron had bought him a mid-90s Dodge Neon which we have come to call 'Satan'. Aaron's Neon broke down in Nowhere AL about 30 minutes east of Mobile. It was 8:30 PM on a cold, stormy night when we took the call. He was stranded. His friends had stayed with him to try to help get the car fixed (timing belt broke) and had finally given up hope.
With all of their gear, there was no way to stuff everyone into the second car they were driving so they rented a hotel room to wait for help. With a snow storm fastly approaching Western Arkansas we had to decide whether to try to beat the whether and leave right then or to head out the next morning. We decided to leave right then and packed 1 change of clothes some blankets and coats. So with nothing but that and the clothes on our backs I loaded up my red tool box (thank God for the tool box), unplugged the heat lamp on the carport, we hopped in Patt's Dodge Ram pickup and headed south, leaving Ronny, 17, at home to watch the house and farm full of animals: geese, goats, rabbits, chickens, hogs, cats, and dogs. It started snowing heavily as we approached Little Rock but by midnight that night, we finally broke through the front in northern Louisiana. We drove straight through in shifts and arrived at Aaron's hotel east of Mobile AL, around 10 on Tuesday morning.
After a Cracker Barrel breakfast with Aaron we started shopping around for a car dolly to load Satan . Our plan was to drive as far as we could before stopping for the night, dragging Aaron's car behind us, followed by his friends in their car. About 3 PM we headed west on I10 towards San Antonio. We ended up stopping in New Orleans for lunch and finally, after more than 24 hours on the road we booked a hotel room in Galveston TX. Because Aaron and his friends had only until 6 PM Wednesday night to check in at Fort Sam we headed out early the next morning for the final long haul.
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