The Ride Home

OK, so we left Normandy around 4:00 or so, not great considering Andrew had to work the next day. I thought we should get a hotel because we'd be getting home around 2a.m. anyhow. No one agreed. So we drove, a long time. (Happy Mother's Day by the way :) We were finishing up, last leg of the trip, and we had an incident. We were still in France, because honestly we live about 10 minutes from the French border, and so we stopped for gas. As we did it started pouring rain. We should have taken that as a sign! 

So my dad fills the tank and we drive. And all of a sudden it feels like we got a bad batch of gas. The car's having trouble. Then my dad recalls some military training he had in the past. Diesel engines were created for emergencies because they can run on anything that burns, anything. But they ride rough. And he said it felt like the diesel engine was running on gas. Meaning he put regular gas in the tank, not diesel. Well, apparently the new computerized diesel cars don't just run on anything. It got pretty bad so we pulled off at the next gas station. My dad figured if we put more diesel in it, it would mix with the gas enough to stop the engine troubles we were having.

We pulled off and shut off the car. Put in diesel. Went to start the car. Nothing. Meanwhile we're in France. WE DON'T SPEAK FRENCH PEOPLE! And the people at the gas station didn't speak english or spanish! I finally found someone who was getting gas herself who also spoke spanish. But my spanish skills are lacking so I ran and got Andrew. He told her the problem, she told the guy behind the counter and no one had any suggestions for us! There happened to walk in a trucker, from Spain. He decided he would help us, he'd syphon the gas out. But the tube he has was too big (remember it's raining hard too).

So he tells Andrew he wants to try to have my dad start it as he and Andrew push the car, to try to kick start it. Well Andrew had flip flops on, so he ended up barefoot in the pouring rain in this gas station parking lot pushing our car around with this trucker. No luck. He left us, feeling badly that he couldn't help us.

So we decide it's time to call someone. We call the car emergency service and they tell us they can't help us because we're in France. We had to call the emergency number for France. It's about 2:30a.m. now. No one on the phone speaks english or spanish either. So we call for a tow and eventually they get the message and say they'll send one. We wait. And wait. And wait. 

Around 4 a.m. Andrew started drawing pictures to tell the man in the gas station what's happening. We called the number again and they were surprised the truck hadn't come yet. At 6a.m. the gas station guy called emergency services for us and said a truck would be on the way. (that's what they said at 2:00 too). My mom and I in the back seat were trying to get any sleep we could, which wasn't much. Vance was uncomfortable in his seat too, so he didn't sleep too well, but he was a really good boy. He barely fussed at all. We were lucky about that. And unfortunately it was really hot in the car, but from trying to start it too many times, the battery was dying and so the car windows wouldn't open.

During all this I was glad to be in good company. My dad and Andrew were cracking jokes the whole time. We were really punchy. At about 3a.m. we were laughing pretty hard. My dad was about ready to go outside and start dancing to the gas station music. That would've been a sight.

So 7a.m. comes and low and behold, here's the tow truck! He towed us to his station and we crashed. The couches were dirty and gross but it really didn't matter at this point. 

This was his station. We all zonked out.

At about 10 a.m. we had to get our things out of the car because the car rental company was sending a taxi to get us and takes us 40 minutes backwards (we back tracked a bit) to the nearest rental station to get a new car so we could drive home.

Vance was still in good spirits!

So we got the new car and started driving home at about 11a.m. or so. We got home about 4 in the afternoon. That was a tough drive for my dad too because he hadn't slept. But we made it. I think my hotel idea would've been better. 

It took us the whole week to catch up on that missed sleep. But it was a mother's day I won't ever forget. I was glad to be there with my family too. It made it a good experience. Though I wouldn't wish it on anyone else. I was so glad to be back home and to hear Spanish again! I still don't fully understand it but at least I MOSTLY understand it. My goodness!