Many years ago The Husband and I watched a movie on
television that I never forgot.
Okay, so I forgot the name of the movie, not the plot. It starred Kurt Russell and the idea
was that he and his wife were on a trip.
Their car broke down in the desert, folks came by to help, the wife went
with the folks to bring back help, and the wife disappeared. Of course the helpers were not good
people. Most of the movie was the
husband trying to find his wife.
Near the end, their car was hanging on the side of a bridge….a very high
bridge. The end result was
positive for the married couple but it took a lot of nightmarish events to
reach the end. Believe me. I never forgot that movie. Maybe some of you have seen it, too,
and never forgot. I never want to
see it again either, just in case you are wondering.
Back in 2003, The Husband, The Girl and I planned for months
a trip to Alaska. I worked with a
travel agent and got our itinerary exactly like we wanted and it was a great
trip for sure. The daylight for
hours and hours when it should be dark threw me off quite a bit but I
eventually adjusted. We arrived in
Anchorage, rented our Avis car, spent the night, and headed towards Mt.
McKinley the next day. We drove over a hill and caught this first view of the great mountain. It was a sight that took the breath away.
The views from the small plane we rode in later were amazing....
Our 2003 Christmas card was this photo from the glacier. Yes, The Husband is wearing short sleeves. What can I say? And his hair is brown, not gray. And I seem to have the same hairdo I have now. And The Girl looks the same. Good for her!
After that we headed to Denali National Park and rode on a school bus on single roads like this for several hours.
The next day after going north to Fairbanks and turning east
headed to our cabin for the night in Paxson (the middle of nowhere in Alaska),
we were driving right along and about twenty minutes from our Paxson
cabin. Traffic on that day, July
6, a Sunday was heavy as folks were obviously going from east to west traveling
home after the long holiday weekend.
A block dropped off a vehicle in front of us and with traffic on the
left and a huge drop off on the right, all The Husband could do was hit
it. In our Avis Camry. He hit it hard. (Yes The Husband went back and picked it up from the side of the road.)
The car began to stop and luckily we were on a downhill so
were able to coast to a pull over spot there. Ah….we got out, smelled gas and thought of what to do. Another vehicle pulled over and asked
to help, we gave them the number of the Avis folks as well as the number of our
cabin’s host, a scientific doctor of birds…uh huh…and asked them to call and
report that we were there. They
were from Wasilla, Sarah Palin’s hometown—just a bit of trivia there. They drove on, I went in the bushes to
make a restroom, and we decided with the smell of gas from the car that maybe
we should remove our luggage from the Avis Camry.
So there we were—The Husband, The Girl, Me, and our luggage
on the side of the busy highway of Alaska….3 hours from Fairbanks, 20 miles
from the cabin in Nowhere, on the side of the road with nothing to do but
wait. So wait we did. I’m going to say here that it’s a scary
thing to be on the side of the road with no communication in a strange land
just waiting for help that you know is at least three hours away. That’s when the long daylight hours
become your friend. Another couple
stopped and offered the use of their cell phone. They were actually familiar with Georgia as they had come to
Dalton to buy carpet. From
Alaska. Go figure. It’s a small world after all. With their phone, standing in one
particular spot for the service, we were able to determine that Avis had indeed
been called by the nice Wasilla folks and were in route with a new rented car
and a tow truck to get the other one.
It would be three hours so we settled in at our roadside stop with our
luggage. I was hoping there would
be no bears around.
It wasn’t but a few minutes until a four door truck pulled
up with signage on the side that advertised our cabin in Nowhere. A bearded man said to us, “The Austins
I presume?” (I kid you not.) Well he told us that were not waiting
there for three hours and that the Avis people could come to our nice cabin and get
us. The Husband got in the back
door as there was no seat there. I
got beside the good fellow in the front and The Girl at the front window
seat. We were all pretty
speechless by now. The Host threw our
luggage in back of the truck and we set off down the road. He kept the one-sided conversation going and after a few miles, he slammed on his
brakes and said, “Oh, I forgot to pick up that fox” and he backed up in the
road, stopped, and threw a dead fox in with our luggage. Uh huh. Really. We were still speechless.
We did get to the cabin and it was exceptionally nice. Had I not been stressed and speechless
I could have really enjoyed the time.
We went next door to the ONLY restaurant/café/gas
station in Nowhere. It, too, was a
big adventure in itself but we don’t have time for that story. Use your imagination and I'm betting you'll be close to the real story.
Our family had booked a float trip with The Host for that night but
had to wait on the car to arrive. The Husband and I allowed The Girl to go along with the group. The Husband and I waited and waited and
finally the Avis guy came. The
Husband got in with him and drove back to the disabled car site so the guy
could head back to Fairbanks and The Husband could bring back our new Avis
car. As the guy was an avid talker, The Husband learned that the Avis guy had been to
NGCSU for past military training. This was yet another common factor with an Alaskan as that was where The Girl was at
college then. It’s a small world
after all. As for me, when
they left, I went to the cabin and locked the door.
When The Husband arrived back, he asked, “The Girl has not
returned? I’m going to look for
them.” (By then, we were VERY harried and VERY stressed.) So off
he went down the road in the Avis car to look for them. There in Nowhere. In the meantime, The Girl returned and
bebopped in happily after her exciting tour. Great. The Host knocked on our cabin door and asked if The Husband
had not returned. I told him The
Husband had gone to look around. I
didn’t say look around for you...and The Girl...and the other guests. Eventually The Husband returned.
We shut and locked the door of our cabin and were finally tucked in our very
softest of beds. Maybe it was truly the softest, most comfortable bed ever or maybe I was just tuckered out. I
lay there and then whispered to The Husband, “Do you remember that Kurt Russell
movie where his car breaks down and his wife goes with folks for help?” To which The Husband whispers back, “Uh huh. I’ve been
thinking of it all afternoon.” I replied that I had also. I
told him that we were NOT leaving that cabin until we got in our Avis car the
next morning and headed east. The
Husband heartily agreed!
Just in case you were wondering, our towing/repair invoice
for the Avis car repair was $4700 and a few cents. Our travel insurance paid every cent. We paid $200 for the travel
insurance. That was the best $200 we ever spent. Needless to say
for any big trip of this nature we always get travel insurance now. You should, too.
There’s a lot more I could tell you about this wonderful
Alaska trip but this is the true adventure part of the trip. I could make a sermon out of this story,
too, but my post is so long, I’ll not this time. You think about it and find a sermon…it’s good practice.
I love this! LOL...literally :-)
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