Getaway Travel Adventures!

Hello, friends! 

We are back from International Getaway! How was it? You'll have to ask Megan, since I was with the kiddos. How did the kids do? They all slept mostly through the night, played well with the other kids, and had a ton of fun, so we'll call it a win! Seriously though, even though I didn't attend any of the sessions, I heard that everything was great. The students were engaged and connected. The photos I'm seeing show that everyone had a great time. I still believe that Getaway is one of the best things that we do as a Region. 

But I don't want to talk about Getaway itself. I want to talk about getting TO Getaway because THAT was an adventure. 

The original plan was simple: Pick up the kids from school a little early, grab dinner on the way, and make it to Getaway in time for the evening session at 7. I had a meeting that went until 2, so I figured I could grab the kids by 2:30 and we'd be golden. 

Waiting for the kids took a little bit longer than anticipated but we still got out of town by 3. That would have put us in St. Joseph for a drive-through dinner at around 5ish and getting into Getaway somewhere in the 6:30 range. Things were looking good. 

About 45 minutes into our drive, the low tire pressure light came on, which is never a good thing. Sometimes it's a false alarm and sometimes it's the real deal. This time, the light was accompanied by a "pop" and rattle... we'd blown our right rear tire.

Here, I have a decision to make. I could change the tire and get us to the next exit, where I could then look for a tire shop that would be open at 5pm on a Friday or I could call AAA and have them tow me somewhere. Given that it would take time for AAA to get to me and then the chances of a tire shop being open would be even lower, I opted for the change. 

Friends, trying to change a tire on the side of the interstate is not a ton of fun. Thankfully, it was the passenger side, so it'd be safer but it still would not be fun. Thankfully, a good Samaritan came by and offered to help. 

Oh, and help he did! Not only did he help me change the tire, since he was from the area, he knew the local tire shops and called around to see if one was open (all the local shops were closed but the Walmart was open). After we changed the tire, he noticed that the spare was looking low on air, so he followed me off the interstate then led me to a body shop that could at least put some air in my tire. He was an absolute God send. 

So, we get the spare filled up good then drive 20 minutes more to the Walmart. I check in the car and ask them to also check the rear tire on the driver's side too. Sure enough, there was a nail in that one and it probably would have blown on this trip too. It looked like we were getting TWO tires changed instead of just one. 

Do you want to know what's hard? Trying to keep 3 small children entertained but not destructive at a Walmart. This included having to scold the kids multiple times to stop climbing on the tires and running through the aisles. It included at least 5 trips to the bathroom (on the other side of the store). It included eating some really sub-par chicken tenders from the Walmart deli. It was an ordeal, that is for sure. 

One hour and hundreds of dollars later, we were back on the road. The rest of the trip was easy enough and we made it in to camp around 9pm, just as the evening session was finishing. All told, it was a 3 hour detour that I'm OK never doing again. 

Leaving Getaway was its own adventure too. A student accidentally gave Jonah some nuts and he had an allergic reaction that the medicine was a little slow in counteracting, so we had to take a detour to Urgent Care (Jonah's fine). When we stopped for lunch, the drive-through forgot part of our order so I had to turn around and grab that. We were supposed to make it home in time for Ezra to go to his friend's birthday party. We were able to catch the last little bit of it, which was good. 

Friends, I often ask for journey's mercies as we travel. I don't know how this qualifies. On the one hand, we were helped by a Good Samaritan, the Walmart tire shop was open so we could get the work done, they found the second tire nail before we blew the tire, and we did eventually get to Getaway. On the other hand, it was a 3 hour detour there (and a 90 minute detour on the way back) that was very stressful and tiring. Ultimately, I'm just happy that we made it. 

How was Getaway? From what I heard, Getaway was great. How was Getaway travel? I'd say... less great. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

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