June 2007. We leave for California for the wedding. We make it to Albuquerque and spend the night.. day 2... we make it just passed William Arizona and our Yukon BLOWS up... literally! We call AAA and 3 hours later they show up and have to put the Yukon UP on the tow truck and take it back to Williams. A hose came loose BUT it was an important hose and we now have a thrown rod and the engine will need to be rebuilt.. We book a room at a Holiday Inn and get something for dinner.

We find out that a taxi from the Holiday Inn to the airport (where the rental cars are) will run almost $50. We ask a the waitress if she knows anyone who will drive us to the airport for $20 and she says SHE WILL... so we set a time and she's going to take JR to the airport.

That night I notice a HUGE RAMP truck (used for hauling vehicles) parked in the Holiday Inn parking lot and it has California license plates. I ask JR if he thinks I should write the driver a note asking if he'd like to make some extra money hauling our vehicle to Cali. JR is angry at me for even asking him such a stupid question. Finally I nag JR enough that he agree to walk with me while I take a note to put on the RAMP truck asking the driver to call us. I have fallen so many times trying to walk fast... that I am afraid to walk alone. My foot drop has gotten worse. My toe drags and causes me to fall.

We get back to our hotel room and JR is furious with me. The kids are asleep. I can't sleep I am so sick to my stomach.. I surf on my laptop most of the night and am so sick I literally throw up. I don't know how.. I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast...