We have safely arrived home from Tahoe after a wonderful week spent skiing at Heavenly, shopping, and eating at great restaurants.
For the drive home, we had allowed ourselves plenty of time. We left Grandma and Grandpa's early afternoon on Tuesday, and didn't have to be home until late Wednesday night. We thought we had it all planned out... little did we know, life had something else in store for us!
We had just gotten out of California, and we were so excited to finally see the end of the California highway-- it seemed so long and looming-- we didn't know if we were ever going to make it to Oregon! We knew that there was a snow storm coming in, and we knew we wanted to beat it thru the mountain passes in Oregon. Our original plan was to drive from Tahoe to Medford, OR.. about a ten hour drive.
As we were coming up the first pass in Oregon, it was just starting to snow. We came around a corner to see a little white car-- totally smashed, and too damaged to push to the shoulder, and its lone occupant waiving cars out of the way in the lane. As we got closer, we realized that the driver was in an Army uniform, so Justin and I stopped. We soon found out that he was in fact an Army Soldier, on emergency family leave because his very ill grandpa was in the hospital. It was determined that he was heading to Portland, OR.. almost 5 hours farther then we had planned on driving that day. Justin and I talked it over, and decided that we would push thru, and take this soldier to Portland to be with his family. His car was totalled, and there was no way he would be driving it anywhere, ever again.
After sifting all of our stuff in the car, cramming and packing things in, we got all of his stuff in the car with us, and set off for Portland. We arrived, in one piece, tired, sore from the car ride, and ready to find a warm bed four and a half hours later. The only problem was... we had shaky communication with this Soldier's family, and it took us two hours of driving through Portland to finally find the destination that we needed! I was exhausted, frustrated, and probably not so nice... and I totally fell apart on the way to the hotel. We stopped at the Red Lion to get a room, and for some reason or another, they were all booked. So FINALLY, we found a room at the Hilton in Vancouver, WA (right across the bridge from Portland) and fell asleep with the comfort of knowing that we were at least in our home state-- and in the home stretch of our drive!
Neither Justin or I emerged from bed the next day until almost 1pm. We grabbed a quick breakfast/lunch, and hit the road. As promised, we took a detour to the Cabela's store in Lacey on the way home-- which ended up taking us about two hours. The store is really cool-- Justin and I got to do some Target Shooting, and Big Game Shooting in their "arcade" area, and Justin was able to get some shopping in!
The drive from Lacey to home was the longest of my life, and I have never been so exited to see my home and my bed! We pushed a lot harder then we had expected, but feel like we have done our "good deed" for that Soldier. Somewhere out there, he is probably telling people about the Marine that gave him a ride to Portland-- and his crazy wife who almost killed him at 2am. :)
Every day in our life brings a new experience... and I can't wait for the next one to roll around!
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