JC & Jayci's Wedding: The Journey Home

The wedding over, it was time to go home. But we had a problem. My car had begun having trouble with the heat. I'd seen that trouble last year here in Indiana when we had temps over 100 for a few days - the car would not go into gear and would sit frozen where it was parked. Eventually I would be able to coax it into gear, and the problem went away when the temperatures dropped. I forgot all about the issue.

Well, with the same 100 degree temperatures in Utah, it began happening again. We'd finally get it in gear and be able to go, but we became more and more concerned about the 25 hour drive home. Would we get stranded along I-80  in one of those long, lonely stretches where help would be far away?

After talking it over, we cut a day off our trip and decided to caravan home with Sarah, Cole, and their families. That way we'd have help and two other cars with us should a problem arise. That proved to be a very good decision.

Things started off okay. Aside from heavy traffic and some road construction in Utah and western Wyoming, we were doing fine until this happened to Cole and Emily just past Green River, Wyoming.

A flat tire. On I-80 with trucks and traffic whizzing by. Cole got the spare out and onto the car (having to totally unpack the car to do so because the spare was under the seats) and limped into Rock Springs.

The spare went flat by the time Cole got the car to a tire store and since his other tires were pretty bald, he had them all changed out for new ones.

We ate at a Cafe Rio while we waited.

Cole, taking the photo, back table Sarah, Julie, Todd, Trinity, and Susie, front table Emily, Kate, Lisa, Craig, and me.

Then it was our turn to have trouble, a new trouble. The car was going into gear, but an alarm began chiming saying that the parking brake was on. 

Todd knows a lot about cars and car repair and he checked everything out. The parking brake clearly was off. Turns out there was a short in the motherboard that said differently but we were safe to continue driving. We cautiously got back onto I-80 and resumed our drive.

Accompanied by this lovely sound. Constantly. For fourteen hours the first day and another ten the second.

All. The. Way. Home. Never stopping, unable to be drowned out by playing music. Making conversation difficult. Driving us absolutely bonkers. 

(Five days later we are still waiting for an appointment with Ford to get it fixed. I am driving Craig's car in the meantime.)

The third car in our caravan, Sarah and Todd's car, had no trouble on the way home. It actually was a good car to switch into and get a break from the constant chiming in our car. Lisa, Sarah and Trinity had some fun while they drove together.

But Todd and Sarah were not unscathed by the bad luck we were having with vehicles. 

They discovered that Trinity's car was dead when they got home, despite just having a new battery put in before they left for the wedding. 

In the end, though, everyone got home safe and sound.

A few other things not mentioned yet...

The bride's brother was late to the reception. Why? Well, when a LARGE sign is posted in an elevator that says it is touchy and DO NOT JUMP IN IT because it will stop and then off-site tech will need to be called to get you out, FOLLOW THOSE DIRECTIONS. I think a couple of young men learned a hard lesson. They were in there for an hour or so.

The JCs Squared were unable to go on their honeymoon to Sequoia National Park. They had both been pretty sick before their wedding and what with the heat issues and being so sick at their reception, they just did not feel up to driving out to California.  They spent a few days in a friend's Vrbo in Salt Lake City and then drove back to Rexburg, Idaho where they are students at BYU Idaho. Their plan is to go on their honeymoon later this fall.

The wedding trip turned out to be quite a saga for sure! But despite the challenges, all is well. And best of all, Craig and I got to spend time with all our kids and their families, the people we love the most.