May 19th 2014
Whew, I can write again. We thought our trip was over before it even started. 6:00 p.m. started to pack all our stuff up. Leaving at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Go to gather up the passports and Camino credentials, they’re in a big Bancfirst bag on the shelf in the bathroom with all our trip stuff, right. WRONG. Can’t find them anywhere. Deb says last saw them on the couch. Tear apart the living room, No Joy. Quinn says saw them in the van, No Joy. My friend Randy says he thinks he saw it at the bookstore during the garage sale, Hayden says he thinks he saw it there too. 45 minutes of looking in the dark, No Joy. House is now destroyed, stuff stacked everywhere, 2:00 in the morning No Joy. I looked up how to replace them quickly. Form a new plan. Get birth certificates, oh wait, they are in the bag with passports. What was I thinking? Sometimes I can be a moron.
New plan, get up at 6:00 drive to Oklahoma City, stand in line, get new birth certificates for Deb and the boys. Luckily I had a copy of mine or we would have to go to Arizona. Leave from there and go to Hot Springs AR, or Atlanta GA to the regional passport office. Spend about $800 get 4 new expedited passports, drive to Nashville, get Debs chair checked out then still drive to Charlotte for the train on Saturday. What a way to start our epic journey. Like Quinn says though, “We’re Krebs’, we have to work for a vacation, they don’t come easy.”
We give up looking and I’m putting Deb to bed. I look down at the tub under the bar with some of her medical equipment in it. We’ve searched it twice. There is a five gallon bucket with a lid on it next to the tub, what is it even doing there. I just flip the lid off and about flip my lid. The bag is in the bucket next to a Study Bible. I am so relieved I can barely contain myself. Now it’s late so I know I am not going to make it out of town by four but I don’t even care, WE ARE STILL GOING TO SPAIN!!!!
Oh I almost forgot, we blew the head gasket in the van yesterday. That makes three head gaskets in less than a year, are you kidding me?! Quinn’s jeep, the Chrysler convertible, and now our handicap van. Don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff. Take it down to All things automotive to see if they can put a rush on it, leaving for Spain and all. Jason and Joe get to looking and figuring, these guys are great but No Joy, the machine shop says at least two days. So I call Avis, they want 1300 for a van to Charlotte, no way, we’ll load Debs chair in the car first. Enterprise—600.00 that I can do, nice van too, looks comfortable but Deb can’t stay in her chair. We’ll make it work.