5 hr drive turns to 7 1/2

Yesterday I decided to go to my parents in Killeen. Jacob hadn't been all summer, and he was dying to get there to see cousins Reilly & Austin, and I figured this was the best time to go just before school starts Aug. 19th. We load up and leave, and are on the road by 9:20am. 2:30-3pm we should arrive depending on traffic in Dallas and how long I let the kids play at the McD's next to the Dallas Zoo. We sailed through Dallas before and after lunch. I just couldn't believe how there was NO traffic at all. I should have known...

Every single time we go through Dallas, and there is NO traffic and I start boasting to my mom that I just got through easily, something will happen down the road~ take our trip to AZ in June for one. That cost me like $750!

Okay, so here I am sailing on I-35 S, coming close to the I-35 E. & W. merger in Hillsboro. Bam! Traffic comes to a hault. I mean, 50 minute hault that only took me 6 miles. I was almost to the merger (I could see the bridge) when my a/c died and my coolant light came on. Why not? I mean, I only have 10 thousand cars in front, beside and behind me, and so I pull over to the left-side shoulder on I-35 S. I would tell you the mile marker, but my mind has gone blank. I call Shawn. He tells me to lift the hood, and to wait 15 minutes before trying to take off the cap and adding fluid.

Remember now, I am in central Texas... the pavement and surrounding areas according to my temp. gauge is now 120, and it's hot! Suburban is like an oven even with the windows down. I have the kids get outside to stand between the car & cable that now lines the highway to stop car wrecks going into the northbound traffic. Places on I-30 towards Dallas has the concrete barriers. Texarkana and this area of the highway has cable lines. I figured it would be okay since traffic was not moving. WRONG!

You know, before I go on with my story, I want to say that Josh had his Eagle Scout Board of Review on Monday night. Well, let's say he was SUPPOSE TO! Eagle Board forgot, and didn't call us, and so we made a wasted trip into Texarkana on Monday night. But before we left, Josh and I were going over some of the stuff he needed to know... like the motto, slogan, etc... What's the motto? BE PREPARED!

Yah... I wasn't prepared for this trip that well. I didn't have any water with us for the kids. But, I never have ever made sure we had water. If we needed some, we would pull over at a gas station, and then grab some. Never had a cooler with water in it. I bet that will be different on the way home on Saturday!

So here we are... standing in the 100+ heat outside on the highway. Jacob is starting to get hot. I mean his little face is beat red. I am talking to my sister Holly telling her where I was, and how Jacob is. She says why don't I just call 911 to see if a patrol car can come so that he can sit in the a/c until my car cools down. Sure, why not. There is not a gas station in sight, so I call 911. They connect me to Hillsboro PD, I tell them the situation and they tell me that they will send a car out. I was also told that a motorhome had gotten a flat past the merger, so that is why traffic has slowed down. Great! Just as I got off the phone with the PD, kind kind people who are probably on vacation themselves, start rolling down their windows, and handing me bottles of water, Gatorade, Powerade, Vitamin Water, crackers. One trucker left a huge Gatorade bottle full of water for my car. I was very touched. I was getting Jacob cooled down with him drinking the water, and with putting cold water on his head, underarms, etc... Just then, and I swear it was at the same time, 2 nice men stopped, and the police car, ambulance and fire rescue truck all pulled up at the same time, and Jacob was checking his blood sugar again. His blood sugar was 103, so I refused treatment from the ambulance (had to sign a paper) and told them that I was thoroughly embarrassed because I only wanted a police car. They asked me questions for a moment, the 2 men filled my car with water, my a/c started, the traffic started going and we all left. Jacob was fine for the rest of the 1 1/2 hr trip, and for the rest of the day.

We got to my parents at 5pm, and we all went to my brother Chad's, place to eat. Kids came back to swim at Mimi's & Grampa's.