We're Up Here!

What should have been an easy 18 hour drive up to my parents turned into a 32 hour adventure. Up until the border everything went well - no major traffic issues, Judah was content for the most part, we were making good time ... then shortly into Ontario I told Spencer I *needed* a Tim Horton's coffee. We pulled into a Timmy's and Spencer said the brakes weren't working well at the exact same time the light started blinking on the dashboard saying the brake fluids were low.
Spencer checked, and sure enough, we were leaking brake fluid. He let the car sit for a moment to see how much leaked, and then tried using them and they were totally shot!!
So there we were - two tired adults and one hungry baby at 11:30 at night sitting in a car without brakes.
I called our handy dandy road side assistance to see if we were covered in Canada, and sure enough we are! They said that they would send a tow truck, but that it was only able to take one adult with the vehicle. It is so neat to see how God was caring for us through this - it just so happened that in the Tim Horton's plaza was an Inn! So Spencer ended up going with the tow truck driver and sleeping in the car in the parking lot of the car repair shop and Judah and I spent the night in the Inn - checking in at 2 in the morning. Hotels should seriously consider pro-rating rooms!
Spencer was a little bitter about having to spend the night in the car while I got to sleep in a cozy bed with pillows, but he was a good sport about it and, other than Paul, I can't imagine having gone through that experience with anyone else!! The car repair dudes were able to look at the car as soon as the garage opened in the morning and the problem was resolved with $56.99 - a lot less than I had feared!


A few travel tips for road trips:
- Take your own coffee cup with you. Stop at gas stations to refill your own cup and you will save lots of money! Some places have free refills, others charge about half of what it would cost if you used their cup - either way it's lots cheaper! And gas stations have great coffee! Especially BP with their Bean Cafe ... or something like that.

- Invest in a Power Inverter for your car. Paul bought me a Black & Decker one for my birthday and it has been so very handy - from keeping my laptop charged to running the pump so I can pump milk for Judah rather than stopping and nursing him ... the inverter has been well used!

- Keep garbage bags in the car. Somehow garbage just piles up when you're driving along! It's ever so handy to have an endless supply of garbage bags to keep on top of the junk!

- Make sure you have lots of change on you - toll roads pop up all over!

- Travel with someone who has a good sense of humor, sees the silver lining on every cloud and that you wouldn't mind being locked in an 8 x 5 foot cell with for a few hours... because if you run into car problems and you need to wait for assistance that is exactly what will happen.

- If you're traveling with a baby don't even bother dressing him! He will puke or poop on whatever you dress him in. If he's naked somehow he doesn't find it as fun to do those things on his bare skin.

- Another baby tip - if he is naked (well, with a diaper!) or not make sure to put something under his bum in the car seat so that when he does an explosive poop - or two - the mess is a little more manageable. Even better? Use a cloth you don't care about and toss the whole stinky mess. In one of those handy garbage bags you've stashed in your car.