Pictures Day 8 Diller, NE – Engelwood, CO 8-14-08

Not wanting to go, but knowing we had a long drive, we wanted to leave by about 10. Not bad, we were on the road by about 5 mins after 10. We had our GP(M)S directing us & it had us going a different way then we had come. I think it was going to take us through Kansas-alright, we’ll see another state! Within minutes of leaving the Weers, we followed the GPS down a muddy road, (it had rained last night), where we quickly lost traction & started sliding & down into a small ditch. Michael put it into reverse, but the tires just spun. Great-another adventure! Thank goodness for on star-as we have no cell service there! We called Mark & their phone was busy, so we started trying other numbers we had for them. One of the boys had checked caller ID & saw our number so they called us back. Mark & the boys come over in their truck & realize they need something bigger to get us out. So they call for the big tractor! In just a matter of minutes, we hear the rumble of the big John Deere tractor coming to the rescue! Ethan & Cole were over the moon-they were sorry this happened to us, but they LOVE helping people out like this. They hooked the tractor up to us & pulled us out & down the road until we were back onto a gravel road, where we still slid around a little! We followed the tractor back home so Michael could scrub the thick gooey mud off his flip-flops. While we were there Mark & Ethan washed all the mud off the Tahoe too! Talk about full-service friends!!! Thank you guys so much for all you did for us! So, we’re on the road, again!Now it’s about 11:30 when we are leaving. We are going back the way we came originally! Quickly becoming a Runza fan, (Ok, so I had one & loved it! Is that so bad? We don’t have Runza’s at home!), I asked Michael to stop & get us one, if we passed any. Being the great guy that he is, he did! He didn’t have to, as I was asleep & never would have known that we had passed one!So, you think our adventures for the day are over? Far from it We are probably about 2 hours into our drive, Matt & myself are asleep, & Lindsay & Maddie are watching Ni-Hao Kai Lan, when we start pulling over. We look behind us to see those famous red lights! Yep! Michael was getting pulled over. L We were coming out of a work zone (where it is 55mph), when the trooper pulled us over. He said his buddy had radioed him saying he had clocked us going 66 in a 55 zone! So he got a ticket. First one in over 20 years! Poor guy-what a day it has been.Our next mini-adventure-Madeline melts down! She had been asleep for a little over an hour & woke up pretty grumpy. We pulled over at the nearest exit & got her out. She was crying really hard & wanted to be held but pushing away at the same time. She didn’t want to walk or even “drive” the car. It took about 20-30 mins to calm her down. We think she may have had a gas bubble. But then she was fine. Thank goodness.We could see out in the distance the dark clouds & lots of lightening. Neat to watch it. We stopped at Sterling, CO for dinner at Pizza Hut, just as the rain started coming down. It rained pretty hard too. It had let up some by the time we were done with dinner & back on the road.We got to our hotel in Englewood, CO about 9:15. It had been an 11 hour car ride. Lindsay was feeling pretty yucky. She just crawled right into bed. After bath time & a little tv, it was bedtime for all of us!