Fears when you’re a Mom…
It seems only fair that I warn you that this may be a blog longer than most of my others, because I have a story to tell you about the crazy adventure that occurred to my family yesterday. I have had my share of dramatic events; some could even be considered near life or death, but I can honestly say that yesterday was one of the scariest days I have ever experienced. We woke up at 5:30 am so that we could leave the house by 6:30 am to take Cristian and Alex to acting class in Studio City. This was not our first rodeo, so we prepared ahead of time with not only packed lunches, but a cooler full of water, juice, and snacks. For those that don’t know, we live 3-4 hours from Los Angeles, acting class is also only 3-4 hours, so we typically head back the same day, making it home just in time for dinner. This trip, we took the other brothers with us, but Lily was able to miss the long car trip as she stayed with her grandparents. An uneventful trip down, although at the beginning of the Grapevine on the Northside we saw traffic backing up because a Semi-Truck must have forgotten to lock their doors and their entire inventory was strewn across the slow lane. Knowing we had 5 hours before we would be headed back, we assumed that the disaster would be cleaned up. The boys made it to acting class on time, while we spent a relaxing few hours in the local library. Released an hour early we took the boys over to the local public pool with intentions of a few hours of fun but upon arriving, it was apparent that we would be leaving with a major sunburn since none of the pools were covered in any shade. Taking a minute in the park, we decided to get back on the road a little early for maybe some water fun at home. Traffic was clear, we were in good spirits a few miles before we reached the Grapevine on I-5, there was a digital traffic sign that there was a lane closure causing a 75-minute delay. Before I continue, for those that are not familiar with our California Highways, this story demands an explanation of the CA Grapevine. This is a description from Wiki “The Grapevine that starts at the mouth of Grapevine Canyon, immediately south of the community, and ascends the canyon to the Tejon Pass, which separates the Tehachapi Mountains from the San Emigdio Mountains via Interstate 5 (formerly U.S. Route 99)…… The road is subject to severe weather and closure to traffic in winter. The stretch of I-5 through the Grapevine and the Tejon Pass is sometimes closed by the California Highway Patrol, generally because of the icy conditions combined with the steep grade of the pass, and the high traffic during the winter holidays. Occasionally, heavy rains will cause mud and rockslides, closing the freeway. The Highway Patrol is also concerned, especially with a large number of big-rigs that pass through, that just one accident in the icy or snowy conditions might force traffic to slow down or come to a complete stop, leaving hundreds of vehicles stalled at once. Whenever there is such a closure, traffic must either wait for it to reopen, or endure a slow multi-hour detour running between Bakersfield and Los Angeles via CA 58.” Basically, what you need to know is that once on the Grapevine you are essentially trapped as there are only 3 or 4 places that you can turn around if necessary. I have been traveling this road for my entire life, so I rarely think much about it. That was pretty much the attitude this day too after reading the sign, I checked the CalTrans website and read that a brush fire had started a few hours earlier that closed 2 lanes, but no new reports were given. As quoted above, you should have read that the alternate route would not only mean backtracking from where we were but traveling through Mojave. Continuing on the grapevine was almost comparable, maybe adding an additional 15 minutes to the longer alternate route, but the possibility the brush fire was contained, and the other lane was open. We were enjoying our time together and decided to just keep moving forward, but just in case, we took the last exit before entering to hydrate and urinate. As we returned to the car and begin the Grapevine incline, I brought out our last snack, 3 fruit and protein snacks shared between the 6 of us. I hear arguing, as trades happen between the backseats of cheddar cheese and apples. Then the car jumps, jumps again, as I question, “What was that?” obvious answer, “I don’t know” and it happens again before the lights in the car dashboard flash and we lose all power. Fortunately, we were in the middle and crossed quickly to the emergency lane, barely coasting to the closest Emergency Call Box, because I did not know what was happening. We made it, the car stopped, we were safe, unless you are the mom that sees a line of cars on the left and a cliff down a mountainside on the right. The boys were strangely quiet, except for the ‘What Happened’ that I honestly answered with an ‘I don’t know, stay buckled.’ I knew we had roadside assistance, although, I also knew we were in more than just a little bit of trouble, that I was in a line of stopped traffic behind and in front, far from an exit ahead, but one step at a time, first needing to know how to tell anyone how to reach us. The Call Box was a new experience and not the friendliest, but they were dealing with a lot of Calls, as we found out we were only 4.5 miles into the Grapevine and we had seen several calls already on the side of the road. I called my insurance, which also had trouble determining my location, but dispatched a tow-truck. So.. everything was A-Okay, we had help on the way, people knew where we were, although phone service was sketchy, and we were in a semi-safe location. Did I fail to mention, temps were reaching 100 degrees, and we all had less than a bottle of water each, that was getting warm, traffic started to speed up and we could have been a little closer to the edge for me to feel comfortable. I know that all would say No, but I did unbuckle and only let them exit the car in our last hour because we were dripping in sweat. I felt so guilty, for so many things… colder water, a snack, entertainment, a non-broken car so I wasn’t watching to make sure we weren’t hit on the road. HAVING CHILDREN IN A DANGEROUS SITUATION CHANGED MY WHOLE PERSPECTIVE! I could not even think straight, although, I was trying to be very calm and figure things out not even knowing what was going to happen. We were literally just existing on the side of I-5, about 3:30 and I received a call at 4:30 from a tow-service. This is where it got really interesting. First, he asked where we were, I told him to the best of my ability, he told me that if we were outside of Castiac (the last stop before the Grapevine) that he could not help us. Then he asked what the problem was, I said, I didn’t know but the battery flashed and was asking for a jump. He listened to my description, and said, “A battery jump won’t help, so I can’t waste service for that, but I can tow you to your desired location.” I explained that I had no idea what else was wrong with the car, that I did not know the nearest auto service location, and the insurance agent told me that only I could go with the tow-truck driver and I was not leaving my kids on the highway. He continued to explain his reasoning for his unofficial diagnosis of the van, and that he understood my frustration and was sorry for my circumstance. Now, I need to admit that this man’s tone sounded condescending and he had initially said, he could not even come to where we were stranded so I already wanted to hang up, but good manners prevailed. Once he mentioned my frustration, I barely interrupted, but did so to say, “ I am not frustrated, actually, I take that back, I am as I am sitting in the hot sun on a freeway with 4 children and a broken car with a brush fire ahead and no way to go forward, back, or even sideways. We are trapped and I have no clue as to what to do.” He responded with, “Now, I am irritated now too because I hear your situation, and I am going to make some calls and send someone out to you. I will make sure they have room to take all of you to a location of your choosing and suggest you come here because I am sure it is your alternator. I don’t do that kinda work anymore, but think we have one here and can fix it for you tonight.” I wasn’t sure about him, or anything, but I knew we needed to be off the road.” Did I mention that during this time 8 fire vehicles passed us, and while on the phone, a CHP finally showed to check on us, as well as 5 other cars around us. Things were a mess. They thought it would take 30 minutes for the tow-truck, it took 90 minutes before he got there. The nicest guy, Hunter, and he did try to jump the battery, but it would not hold a charge, however, he looked like the driver you never want to show up late-night, again, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” He fit all of us in his truck, loaded the van and we were on our way. We backtracked, but once we saw the ahead traffic, we were not moving anywhere. The fire was yet to be contained and we had been on the mountain for 4 hours. Finally, reaching the shop, they determined it was indeed the alternator, and although it was after 7 pm agreed to work for 2 hours to fix and loaned us a car to take the boys to dinner. We were on the road by 9:30, with a discounted labor and equipment fee, plus a free quart of oil as we are due an oil change. I did a little research and it does look like received a nice discount, but we don’t have an emergency fund set up. I thank Jesus that this happened at the beginning of the month, but we have a lot of things to work out for the rest of our monthly bills.
My point in sharing, is my gratefulness for our safety, for realizing our reliance on others in times of need, and the genuine good of strangers. I also learned not to be so judgmental, although I never thought I was, and to be better prepared. Maybe a better or added Emergency Kit, definitely Emergency Food and Fund, because now I have a whole different set of stressors as I look at how to cover such a fee. But I am most grateful for how well behaved the boys were, with not one word of complaint, only jokes, and sentiment trying to keep the mood light and being understanding of the situation. From now on, I will look with more compassion to those on the side of the road and if there is something, I can ever do for them.
