The past couple of months have been so hectic. I have been spending all my free time trying to prepare for this little one coming. I am either reading books or doing something in the nursery. I have so much that I could tell you about, but right now I want to tell you a story that has to be written down.
On June 29th, I headed up to Peoria, IL to stay with the in laws and meet up with the band. I brought Mia along. Mia spent at least 6 hours in my lap on the drive, but we made it safe and sound. I got to hear the boys play twice. Zach's family through me a baby shower on Saturday while the boys headed to Michigan. My visit was great!
Zach and I decided that on Sunday July 3rd, I would drive home via Indianapolis in order to meet up with the band and Zach would be able to drive me the rest of the way home. This sounded great. We coordinated what time we needed to leave in order to time things well. I hit the road and everything was looking good.
About 2 hours outside of Peoria, my radio turned off. Hmmm...that is odd. I tried to turn it back on, but it flashed low battery. I thought that did not sound good, so I called Zach to see if he could look up a good exit for me to stop at. While on the phone with him, all the dashboard went out. This meant I had no idea how fast I was going or how much gas I had left. The car was still driving fine and so I kept going, hoping to make it to the next exit. Not a minute later, the car stopped accelerating and I had to pull over on the side of the road.
I called AAA which after telling them all the information, told me they were having difficulty finding a tow truck and that there were no shops open (Sunday and 4th of July weekend). On top of that, the closet closed shop was 16 miles away. We just a couple of weeks before went down in our membership since we had never used the 100 miles of towing allotted which meant that only 5 miles would be paid for. At this point, Mia hid under the car seat as she was freaked out by all the cars zooming past us. I opened the passenger car door and sat on the side of the highway waiting to hear back from AAA. About 30 minutes later, AAA let me know they had found a tow truck but that it would be at least another 30 minutes before he got to me.
There I was pregnant on the side of the interstate in the middle of nowhere in the hot July sun with a cat that I had forgotten to bring a carrier for. Thankfully I have an amazing husband who is part of an amazing family and band. The band was willing to reroute to meet me at an auto parts store while Zach's family drove 2 hours from Peoria to meet us. After 1 hour, the tow truck showed up. I spent 30 minutes with the tow truck guy who I could write a whole blog post about getting the car towed to an auto parts store as Jake, Zach's brother, was pretty sure he could fix the car.
Once at the auto parts store, I was signing paperwork and paying the tow truck when Mia escaped from the car. I don't blame her as the car was extremely hot, but not good news for me. I thought she went under the car, but once the tow truck man left, I could not find her. A side note that I forgot to mention was that I was in need of a restroom break before I even broke down. At this point I was about to bust. I had to leave Mia lost for quick bathroom break before heading out to search for Mia.
Thankfully after about 20 minutes of searching, I found Mia. She was totally freaking out. I tried to hold her and she wouldn't have it. I tried putting her down in a little patch of grass, but she would run. So, there I was with a cat that was loosing her mind and no carrier waiting for help to arrive. I put Mia in reusable grocery bag and began pacing. If I stopped walking, she would try to get out of the bag. By this point, Mia has begun to pant. I have never seen a cat pant and it was really scary. I knew she was loosing her mind and that she was super hot in the bag, but she refused to drink any water. I kept putting water in my hand and trying to force it in her mouth. She would lick her nose, but that was it. I was really worried about her.
When Zach showed up an hour and a half after me getting to the shop, I was so relieved. At least I had someone else to hold the bag and worry about Mia. We waited about 3o more minutes outside for Zach's family to show up. Thankfully they had a cat carrier which at least meant I could go inside to get water or use the restroom and sit down. It did not seem to calm Mia any as she continued to pant and refuse water.
Zach's dad, Jake and Zach got to work on the car. The battery was taken out and was recharged inside while Jake started taking about my engine. It was quite scary to watch. I headed over to the shade with Mia and Lyn (my mother in law) so that I couldn't see all the parts being taken off. The boys (mostly Jake) worked on trying to get the alternator out for 5 1/2 hours. Bob and Zach were ready to give up, but Jake kept at it. After 5 1/2 hours of pure determination and undoing an engine mount in order to lift the engine, the alternator finally came out. The alternator was checked and was bad (thank goodness!). A new one was bought and the work of putting the car back together began. At about 9pm (13 hours after I had left Peoria), the car was put back together (mostly, I still have a several screws and some heat shields in the garage that didn't make it back in the engine). At 9:30pm, Zach and I headed out to Nashville.
What an incredibly long day! I am so blessed to have such amazing in laws and husband that were willing to help me!
For anyone who is curious, I am pretty sure that Mia lost a couple of years off her life, but she is doing fine and I will be sure to bring a carrier just in case in the future.
