Richard's Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad day...

We decided to drive to the commissary some 50 miles away to go to the commissary's case-lot sale. Our first indication of disaster was that we got lost. Not too lost, but enough that we were slightly delayed. That delay cost us time. We stood in line for two hours before we managed to get into the warehouse. It was worth the wait.

Two more hours later, we stuffed the car full then strapped the cases of toilet tissue and papertowels to the luggage rack. Despite tying down, as we exited the base half the top load blew off the car! We had to turn around, back up and retrieve the goods. Only one package had road rash and only one roll of TP was ruined. We then stuffed all the TP and papertowels in the car. Mom couldn't move because she had all the TP stacked around her. I was in the front seat and was piled with packages of papertowels.

We were halfway home when another disaster struck...literally. Two turkey buzzards were on the road in front of us. Both lifted off at the approach of the car, but the one on the left decided to take the roadkill with him. Part of the kill dropped, the bird flapped off-balance and flew straight into the windshield of the 4Runner. It flipped over the top of the car and we're not sure what happened to it as there were cars coming both ways. But Richard and I were stunned and holding our breath because the window continued to crack! He slowed way down and finally it stopped. We crept home terrified that the window would give way completely and blow glass back into our faces. Both of us were wearing glasses, but still.



Notice the rear-view mirror is reflecting rolls of toilet paper? Mom is under there somewhere. And being the horrible, no-good, very bad family, we have proceeded to tease Richard incessantly about possible future hits and his status as an Ace (in air-to-air combat, an ace pilot is defined as one with five or more kills). No turkey buzzards have volunteered to help Richard. One turkey buzzard was harmed in this incident.

Fast forward to home...we parked the 4Runner, jumped into the Corolla and went to retrieve Pa's truck. He'd dropped the canoe into the creek and planned to canoe down to the lake. Mom got in the truck and we drove to the lake. Sure enough, Pa was there waiting for us. We loaded the canoe and then drove home to unload groceries.



Richard went to unlock the door of the 'Stream...and the last disaster of the day was revealed. The air compressor on the air conditioner had given up to ghost. It was over one hundred degrees inside the Airstream.

Needless to say, after unpacking groceries and taking a nap outside in the cool air on the lounge, we skedaddled to Mom's to spend the rest of the evening in air conditioned comfort.