Some times you just can’t help but laugh

Cars and road trips… You just have to love them, the good with the bad. It seems that long drives are either uneventful or riddled with excitement but no in-between.

Several years ago my mother was driving the 8 hour drive from their summer home in North Eastern Oregon back to their winter home on the South Western Oregon coast for the last time because dad had Alzheimer’s and mom wanted to be near their favorite ranch where she felt as if she could take better care of dad in their golden years.

On the way back mom was getting tired so she pulled into a truck stop with a restaurant that was sitting up on a hill that sat along the freeway. She asked dad to go inside and get her a cup of coffee to help keep her alert. But when dad got out of the car and because of his condition he accidentally let their pet dog out of the car. Frustrated and no longer able to deal with such problems he just said to hell with it and walked on into the cafe. That left mom panicked and rushing around the parking lot trying to catch the dog that was running away from her and out into traffic and so on. All of a sudden mom realized the car was rolling and as she frantically tried to jump back in the car and as she fell began being dragged along on the ground and almost ran over herself. As she helplessly laid on the ground in tears watching in horror she saw her car roll down the hill towards a hotel. There was only one single parking space that was empty in front hotel rooms and as amazing as it was her car drove perfectly into that spot without hitting a single car before crashing right thru the wall into the only empty hotel room. As mom collected herself Dad walked out with two cups of coffee in is hands and saw Mom laying on the ground, the dog running around and he asked, “Where in the hell is the car?” Mom just pointed to the car sticking out of the hotel wall and so Dad just turned around and went back into the cafe sat down and drank his coffee.

Don’t feel bad, it’s ok to laugh along. It sounds like a terrible story but if you knew my dad I’m positive he would make us all laugh until we cried with this story. He was such an awesome man… I sure miss him.