No Foolin'!

I wish I could say that the following events are my attempt at an April Fool's joke, but unfortunately everything is true.

Our day started out lovely, packing up from a delightful stay in Chicot State Park near Ville Platte, Louisiana. Despite being invaded by inchworms, we cooked over the fire, went on nature trail walks, and took mountain bike rides. Southern Louisiana is swampy, lush, humid, and littered with crawfish shacks waiting to serve "Cajun home cookin'".

Then the day took a turn for worse. We were driving along Interstate 30 from Shreveport to Hot Springs, AR, when we heard a "whap whap whap". "What the “heck” is that?" I asked Vanessa who just looked out the window and said, "Pull over, the tire is shredding." We made it to the side of the road and called AAA. I-30’s could be “Semi Speedway” as almost every vehicle that barreled by was a giant 18-wheeler doing 70mph (the speed limit). Arkansas has had a recent road safety promotion reminding people it is the law to move over to the next lane when there is a vehicle with flashing lights. To their credit, every driver who could moved over, but some were going so fast that they couldn't merge into the left lane fast enough which meant speeding semi in the left lane, speeding semi in the right lane and little brown van on the side of the road with two shivering girls and a surprisingly oblivious chihuahua. It was at this point Vanessa discovered a blood-engorged tick on Buster's neck. I admit to a little vomit coming up into my mouth.

Eventually, the tow truck did arrive and a very kind gentleman changed our tire, not seeming to notice the dangers telling us about his wife who didn't know how to drive a standard transmission. Arkansas people have guts!

Tire changed, we limped to the nearest hotel and checked in. At that point a thunderstorm struck with a vengeance. The distance from the van to the hotel entrance was about 20 feet, and in that moment of sprinting to the door my clothes under my shirt, I was completely drenched. I've never experienced that much water coming down in that short of time. Now, we were wet, tired, dirty and just wanting to relax in a clean comfortable room. I plopped down on the bed (before removing the bedcover of course---we've all seen that bugmite 20/20, haven't we?) and immediately realized I had left a window open in top part of the van! I jumped up, grabbed the keys and bolted from the room. I use the word bolted because when I opened the door too quickly, the silver latching lock swung over and I smacked my forehead into with such force it knocked me to the ground. Dazed but still panicked about the lake forming in the van, I ran outside, again getting soaked from head to toe, only to find out I had indeed closed the window.

Needless to say spending the next day at Arkadelphia's Tire Store was not a highlight of the trip. But we survived, we're still smiling, and we've got four new tires to take us down the road...wherever that might be. Hope your April started off on a better note.