This past weekend my family and I went camping with some good friends of ours, the Griffiths. We went up to Black Mountain, a campground where my dad stayed practically every summer of his life. We went tubing down the river, we jumped off massive rocks, and of course we had plenty of campfires to keep us warm.
On Friday afternoon we were coming back up the long, gravel approach road and the next thing we knew, our back right tire was flat. Well, at first we thought, “A flat tire? No big deal!” We pulled out the spare and began to remove the flattened tire and replace it with the spare tire. Would you believe that the spare was flat too?!?! My brother, Adam, and Jackson Griffith went up the road a ways to the campground to get some help. We were able to fill up the spare tire with air long enough to get us to our campsite. We were sure of one thing: this poor little spare tire would not be able to get us home the next day.
The next morning The Two Dads drove 20 minutes to the next town over to get a new tire. They had to do a little bit of hunting before they found the perfect tire that only ended up costing $20! They drove back to the campground and put the new tire on effortlessly.
But, the story doesn’t end there. We all began to pack up our tent and camper, because much to our chagrin, it was time to be heading home. Did I happen to mention that it had been raining all day? I am sure that anyone who has ever been camping knows how fun it is to camp in the rain (sarcasm), much less pack up your camping equipment in the rain.
We got on our way a little after 3:00 pm. We had plans to stop at an apple orchard on the way home to fulfill one of my mom’s wishes, and to get apples. Once we finally arrived at the apple orchard, we discovered that the road that led to the apple trees was very long, with a slight (or perhaps a little more than slight) incline. Now, let me mention something: Our van is about eleven years old and we have had some problems with it. We just need it to last a few more months, but it doesn’t seem to want to last even other day. Anyways, as we were driving up the long road to the apples, suddenly we hit the incline, and the van would not move any further. The camper was too heavy for it. My dad decided that the best option would be to back down and park at the bottom of the hill. Well, the owner of the apple orchard brought his truck down, and suggested that he could pull the van and the camper up the hill. My dad attached a chain to what he thought was a hook underneath the car. The truck was able to pull our van and camper up the hill with no problem. Just as they reached the top of the hill, the chain broke, and oil came pouring out of the bottom of our van. What my dad thought was a hook, was actually the hose that circulates the oil in our van. My dad pulled over to a grassy area and turned off the car. Black oil was all over the place! We had to call AAA to send a tow-truck to come haul our van to the repair shop. Oh, and by the way, we were about an hour and a half from home. A tow-truck came about 45 minutes later, and took my dad my brother, Miles, and Lauren Griffith with him. Meanwhile, the other 7 of us went in the Griffith’s vehicle which only seated 5. My brother and Jackson Griffith sat in the trunk area with their dog, Bullet. We road that way for an hour and a half! (Just so you know, the trunk was empty because we unloaded everything out of the back and into our van, which was now packed with wet, dirty camping stuff and was sitting safely upon the tow-truck bed.)
We had to leave our camper behind, because the tow-truck could not pull both the van and the camper. So, my dad took my uncle’s truck back down to the apple orchard two mornings later to fetch the camper and bring it back to safety.
We arrived home around 8:30 on Saturday night, and then realized that our keys to the house were in the van. So, we had to drive down (we were using one of the Griffith’s cars) to the repair shop to meet my dad and brother so that we could pick the two of them up, unload our van, and get the house keys. By the time we finished this daunting task, it felt like it was way past midnight.
We made it home in one piece, showered, and had a fresh start on Sunday morning.
We got our van back on Tuesday morning and while my mom was driving it home, she was sure that she wasn't going to make it. The low coolant light was on, the check engine light was on, and the heat gage was way too high. We ran an errand a little later on, but then as we were coming up our street, smoke started coming out the back of the van and oil started to leak out again! Once again, there was black oil everywhere. Once again, our van would not start up. Once again, we had to call AAA to have them come tow our van back to the repair shop.
We just got a phone call saying that our van is back in working order and ready to be picked up. The repair men were very apologetic. Hopefully this vehicle will last us until June and hopefully it won't cause any more problems!
