Getting Ready for...

We are getting ready for so many different things lately. The most stressful one of all is the big move from Texas to Florida. Travis and I decided it would be best to buy our own moving truck, in order to have it readily available for loading, while I slowly pack up the house. Buying any car is a stressful affair, but it becomes even more of an ordeal when said car is to be purchased through Craigslist, and also expected to drive with all of our belongings for over 15 hrs. The evening we finally found our truck was quite the experience. Friday afternoon, I picked Travis up from work and we drove together to Red Oak, Texas which is a little over an hour away. Once there, for reasons that I can't really put my finger on, we agreed to purchase this GMC 1991 Top Kick for $3,500. Get this.... WITHOUT DRIVING IT!! Must have been the 24ft of storage possibility. 

After paying, we nervously with a hint of happiness started the drive home. Travis went ahead driving the truck while I followed behind with the suburban. 20 mins went by and just as I was relaxing in my seat, I heard the loudest noise and was sure my suburban had shot an engine. I looked to my right and saw Travis pulling out of the highway and thought he had heard it too.  I wasn't until after I had taken the next exit and was making my way to the shopping center, I realized it was not my car but the truck.  I went through the shopping center and parked in a way that I could still see the truck and waited for Travis to make it to where I was. Since my phone was dead, I couldn't call him to ask what was going on and I also could not leave Shadd in the car to go check. Travis finally made the turn into the shopping center but instead of parking he kept going, so I rushed through the parking lot to follow him. To my surprise he got back unto the freeway. After driving like a maniac I managed to get right behind the truck on the intersection. The light turned green but we were not moving, instead Travis jumped out of the truck and was walking towards me. It was a sight to see too, cars were driving past him and honking while glaring their high beams at him. When I lowered my window, he simply said "the truck won't start". 

To make a long story a little short, we ended with 2 police officers stopping traffic on a four lane intersection. We were charged $500 for the nicest tow truck I've ever seen to tow our truck just a few blocks away into a garage.

Can't really tell by the picture but this is kind of what it looked like. Found this picture online.

  The drive home was so disappointing, we were deflated. Things could not get worse and stressing would not have made a difference so we just laughed. I don't really remember why but we just laughed all the way home. The next morning, since I hadn't been to the temple for over 2 years we decided to not cancel my temple plans. As planned, Travis took Shadd with him to work on the truck.  I had the best day at the temple, but that's another story. Once back home, Travis had nothing but bad news. He couldn't work on the truck because the garage owner told him he either had to tow the truck out or let them work on it. We had no idea how much it was going to cost but we were sure it would be more than we had budgeted towards the truck. 

Travis worried about it all Sunday, so we devised a plan to drive there at the crack of dawn, pull the truck out and work on it on the street right in front of the garage.  We were relying on the idea that the owner would not be the first to show up to work. Not to mention, we weren't sure our suburban would be able to pull such a massive truck, but off we went.  That morning, we parked in front of the garage and waited for someone to show up to give us the keys.

It worked! Our almost impossible plan worked. LOVE MY SUBURBAN!!! Look at her go!!! Who would have thought? After working on the car for about 30 mins and 2 trips to Autozone, we discovered the problem. The truck had run out of gas.

Our faces on the drive home with the truck. We were saying all sorts of gratitude prayers. We felt the hand of the Lord that day.