Our stressful, crazy, HOT, but fun trip to Idaho

Before we start with the pictures, I should probably explain the title. We took a road trip to Idaho a few weeks ago so Jonathan could attend his 10-year high school reunion. Most of the trip was a blast, it was just getting there that was the stressful, crazy, and HOT part. The trip was going fine for about 2 hours (this is usually a 10-hour drive), until the air conditioner stopped working. Yikes! I honestly don't know how people travelled back when cars didn't have air conditioning, it was terrible! So we drove another hour and a half to Tri-Cities where we stopped at a Toyota place so they could check out the car. We sat there for 2 hours while the children went absolutely bonkers in the waiting room. They mis-diagnosed the problem and said they didn't have a part for whatever they thought it was, so they sent us on our way. We drove a little while longer, still with no air conditioning, until our fan belt snapped and the battery light came on. We had no idea what to do, so we thought maybe we could make it to the next town.

After talking to Jonathan's mother, we decided to turn around. We got off the freeway at a rest stop to turn around and the car died. Talk about tender mercies in the midst of a trial! It was bad enough that the car completely died, but at least we were at a rest stop with shade and bathrooms. We can now get to the pictures. Here we are waiting for a tow truck to take us back to Pendleton to figure out what is wrong with the car.

In order to park in the shade, we had to park right next to the dumpsters. That meant flies. Oh goody.

Dean was in total awe of the tow truck

The kids thought being in the tow truck was the greatest thing ever.

I'm just trying not to cry.

Our tow truck guy was definitely heaven sent. By the time we made it to Pendleton (where it was 105 degrees), all the repair shops were closed, so he drove us to his friend's parts store, bought a new fan belt, then drove us to his other friend's shop to put it on for us. What a guy! We felt pretty grateful. Plus, I got to get this picture of a praying mantis, something you don't see in Western Washington.

The kids got to play in this junky area while the guys put on the fan belt. I tried not to care, after all, they had been so good thoughout this whole ordeal.

We finally made it to Twin Falls, rolling in at 1am. We were able to finish the drive with the new fan belt, but we still didn't have air conditioning. We were so thankful for our safety and Chris the tow truck guy who was such a help. If anyone gets stuck in Pendleton, Oregon, we know the guy to call!

The day after we got to Idaho, we got to take a ride on Jeff and JaNae's boat (Jonathan's sister and bro-in-law). So fun! That day made up for the awful one before. We took turns riding on their tube and we were out on the river all day.

Dean was in hog's heaven on this boat. He thought it was the greatest thing since super capes!

Well, until I put Dawson down next to him for a picture and they started hitting each other.

I rode with my crazy neices Annie, Whitney and Meg.

Jonathan took Dean on the tube and he had a blast! Jeff drove the boat pretty slowly so there was no chance of them falling off.

I had so much fun riding with JaNae and Cara. We just laughed the whole time.

I know this picture is blurry, but I couldn't pass it up!

Just enjoying the ride.

Even Dawson got in on the action.

Walker grandkids: Andrew, Dean, Whitney, Wes, Holly

Crazy Uncle Jeff, thanks for driving the boat all day!

Jonathan's sisters Jill and JaNae and in the back is Jill's husband Steve

The last ride of the day with Jeff and Gary