Keep going

Back in the summer of 2009, we moved from California to Utah. Brian had finished his medical residency and we were finally moving on! Our move was eventful. This is the story.

We packed up our apartment and everything took a lot longer than anticipated. We finally made it to bed at 2:30 AM. After 90 minutes of sleep, we were on the road at 4:30 AM. Brian drove the U-haul which was also towing our Honda Civic, and I was behind him in the van with our four kids. The moving truck was big and Brian was driving SLOW. I encouraged him to pick up the pace a bit. Ever cautious (but always safe!), he sped up to 55 mph.

About an hour into our journey, the back tire of the trailer blew. Brian and I pulled over and immediately noticed that the trailer was on fire! What the? Brian quickly called U-haul for roadside assistance, and I attempted to flag another car down for help. No one stopped.

Thankfully, the fire died down and looked completely out. I was so relieved. Seconds later, new flames appeared, bigger and stronger than before. This time, I remembered that we had lots of water bottles in the van, so I ran to get them. I started pouring them on the fire. Meanwhile, Brian decided to call 911. After 7 water bottles, the fire was finally extinguished. A few moments later, the police and a fire truck came. We explained our predicament, and they checked the trailer out and instructed us to get off the side of the road.

While Brian waited for some roadside help from U-Haul, I loaded the kids in the van and drove to the McDonald’s about 8 miles up the road. It was now approximately 6:30 AM. The U-Haul repairman showed up at 8:30. Unfortunately, he couldn’t fix the tire, so he needed to replace the entire trailer. Brian unloaded our little car and waited for two more hours for a new trailer. Meanwhile, the kids and I were stuck in McDonald’s for those four hours. There was no play place, and breakfast took about 30 minutes. That is a lot of time to waste. The automatic doors became the toy of choice. The employees were not happy with us, but I didn’t stop the shenanigans. Brian finally pulled in and we started driving again around 11 AM.

We made it to Las Vegas at 3 PM. We had been on the road, or beside it, for approximately 10 hours! We stopped to get lunch at In-N-Out, as it was our usual stopping point. Unfortunately, there were a billion people in the restaurant. Well, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but there was a baseball tournament going on in Vegas, and it looked like they all chose to eat at In-N-Out that afternoon. It took us an hour to get our food! One hour—at a fast food restaurant. It was unbelievable.

We were back on the road again. We stopped at the Pilot gas station a few miles down the road. I pulled in but didn’t see Brian or the moving truck. I waited. While the kids and I sat in the car, Brian’s adventure kept going. After he turned the wrong way off the exit, he slowly maneuvered his way to the gas station. He saw a sign for trucks and decided that was for him.

It wasn’t.

There was only diesel there, and our U-Haul used unleaded gas. Sadly, there was no backing out. A truck was in front and behind him, so he was stuck. He waited around 20 minutes when the front truck pulled up just enough to create a sliver of space. Brian attempted to squeeze by. It didn’t work…the trailer got wedged against a concrete slab.

Finally, Brian called and explained what had happened. I drove to the truck side of the gas station and couldn’t believe what I saw. The trailer was wedged so tight I thought we’d never get free. Brian inched the truck back and forth, listening to my incompetent directions. The trailer was as stuck as ever. Embarrassingly, a truck driver came over and offered his help, mixed in with jabs and insults about our intelligence. He gave Brian directions, and the trailer slowly moved, but not quickly enough. He impatiently jumped in the front seat of our moving truck and freed our trailer.

Whew.

We pulled out of Vegas at 5 PM. The rest of the trip to Utah was spent trying to stay awake. Sodas, gum, frequent bathroom stops, and cold water on our faces were how we spent the next 5 hours of driving. At about 11:30 PM, we stopped in front of my sister’s house. We were exhausted and slept hard.

The next morning, we woke up around 8 AM. Brian left with the truck and headed to our final destination. There was a quarter tank of gas left, but he figured it was enough.

It was a bad decision.

He got off the freeway and only had a couple of miles left until he reached our house. Because of a marathon being run nearby, the traffic was horrific. As Brian listened to the truck sputter on fumes, he desperately looked around for a gas station. He saw one, but it wasn’t big enough to accommodate our big truck and trailer. As the traffic crept forward he saw a suitable gas station, but he would have to turn left and cross the two closed lanes where the marathoners were running. Out of options, Brian turned the truck off and flagged down a police officer. Cars lined up behind him were angry and honked aggressively.

“I need to get into that gas station.”

The police officer responded,

"No way! There is a marathon going on! You cannot block traffic like this."

There was some discussion. Some back and forth. Desperate, Brian said,

Then call me a tow truck, because I only have enough gas to turn it on and get into that station."

Unbelievably, the police temporarily stopped the runners. They waited for a sparse section, stopped the runners, and Brian pulled the truck into the gas station (it was not a quick turn—more like a 12-point turn).

Thankfully, Brian got to the house at 10:15 AM. When he arrived, a backhoe was parked directly in front of the house, so he parked in the middle of the street. We didn’t care. We made it.

I share this unbelievable but true story to illustrate a point.

We had a very specific ending destination. We knew exactly where we needed to be. However, we could not foresee all the hiccups and problems and disasters (some of our own making 😜) that would occur on our way. When our trailer caught on fire, we didn’t stop and go back. We kept going, even when it took a LOT longer than we anticipated.

We just kept going.

Life works in a similar fashion. You need a clear destination in mind but know that the path to getting there will not be easy or direct, at least not all of the time. The messy parts—the challenges and the train wrecks—are not a problem. It should be expected.

Your job is to keep going. You will make it. Everything will be ok.

Just keep going.