What Happens When Your Flywheel Breaks

So.  There we were.  Happily cruising along.  Me and the four kiddies.  Miss B was sitting shotgun keeping me company.  We were right on schedule with a tail wind, plenty of snacks and even a tasty picnic lunch (that's foreshadowing).  After hours of highway, we hit the freeway and I accelerated, eager to get moving.  My transmission did not agree and wouldn't allow me to drive faster than 50 mph.  I called my hubby straightaway for advice and then limped along with my hazards on...trying to get into town.  We made it to our favorite truck stop and after much deliberation, decided to wait in good ol' Kingman, AZ whilst my hubby finished up some work and rented a trailer for our grand rescue.  So then all we had to do was wait.  And wait.  And you guessed it...WAIT.  Luckily the van was functioning at low and easy speeds and so we carefully drove a couple of miles to a quaint spot on Historic Route 66.  There we found an old train in a park, a 50's diner and a museum...all together for our enjoyment.  We started with the train and climbed it for hours.  Literally.  We explored, read signs, climbed and climbed and climbed.  We wandered, and the two big kids read under the trees.  The boys climbed the trees and we had a lucky picnic on the lawn.  I usually don't pack picnics, but it was so nice and turned our breakdown into a picnicking adventure.

Later we hit the museum and watched a very cool model train drive around it's track a few times.  Then we headed over to the diner for some root beer floats and snacks and to stay cool in the air-conditioning.  After our tummies were full of root beer, we headed back to the truck stop to wait a bit more.  Then we were rescued by our knight in a shiny green truck and trailer.  A very nice trucker gentleman helped us load the van and strap it tight to the trailer and then we were off.  My very fabulous hubby had to drive us the rest of the 4 hours to our destination then turn around early the next morning and be home by 10:30 am to return the trailer.  Not fun for him.  But.  I made the full trip using less than a quarter tank of gas...what stellar gas mileage when you're being towed...

And that was the end of our five-hour adventure in Kingman.  I just can't believe how blessed we were to breakdown the moment we entered civilization (and cell phone range), and in a place where we could stay cool and have fun for hours, AND we happened to park right next to someone who knew how to load a trailer correctly.  It could have been so much worse.  It could have been the middle of the night and in the middle of nowhere.  And that would have been scary.  But it wasn't and so we had a very nice, extra adventure.