Yesterday was quite an eventful day. We started our day with the last day of swim lessons. After we got the kids washed and dressed, we got ready to go up to Tony's work. Margie and Lloyd came over to our house to pick us up. Some went up with Tony in his car and the rest in Margie's van.
We got some lunch at Jerimiah's, and it was super yummy, as usual. After lunch we went to the cannery and Tony got changed before taking us around to see the equipment. Tony kept getting called away to help with problems, so we did some of the tour ourselves. Since we've been going for ten years, I felt like I was pretty qualified to be our pretend tour guide. Tony does a much better job, and we were glad when he was able to come back to us.
After our tour Tony needed to get back to work so we headed for home. We got to Layton without any problems until we saw a piece of metal that was in the road. It was moving around, and we couldn't swerve to miss it, so it went right in the middle under her van. I was hopeful that the metal piece wasn't too big that we could just drive right over it and it would miss hitting the bottom of the van. I was wrong. It bounced around the bottom of the van and hit the oil pan and we were losing oil and starting to smoke under the van.
Margie was already in the right-hand lane, so luckily, she was able to get over to the shoulder quickly without any problems. We got over on an extra wide shoulder that was on a bridge to an on ramp. Margie got out and quickly saw that it was indeed the oil that leaked all over the road and all over her car. We knew we couldn't turn the car back on to get off the freeway or even to have the AC run, so we rolled down the windows and quickly figured out who to call.
Lloyd called Honda and got a tow truck coming. The next step was figuring out how we were going to get all seven of us back home. We looked at getting an Uber but quickly found that they couldn't get us all in one vehicle. The tow truck driver said he can take two people with him, so we then only needed to get me and the kids home. We knew an Uber driver probably wouldn't pick us up on the freeway, so I took the kids over the railing, and we walked off the freeway to the nearest restaurant so that I could order us an Uber.
Once in the restaurant I found that there were no Ubers that were available that would fit us. I started to freak out a little bit worried about how I was going to get my family of five home from Layton. I called Lloyd and Margie to see if they were still on the freeway with the tow truck and they were still there. The tow truck driver said that he got permission from his boss to let us all ride in the van on his tow truck. He didn't think it was a good idea to take us all the way to Murray because it was so hot in the van. So, he was kind enough to take us to the Front Runner train station.
So, the kids and I went back up to the freeway (I did get us some water from the restaurant while we were figuring out what we were doing - that was amazing). We got into the van, buckled up and went for a little ride. I sat in the driver's seat and the kids all sat in the back. Josh was really worried at first and wanted to ride in the tow truck, but he quickly calmed down once we started going. I figured we were all in this together, so we needed to all be in the van together.
The ride on the tow truck was pretty hot. We did have the front windows open, but not the back ones. The driver told the kids not to wave to people or put their hands out the windows. Nothing that would draw attention to the fact that people were in the van. It was also pretty bumpy. But we didn't feel unsafe. We were very grateful to have a ride for all of us to the Front Runner station.
Once we got to the station, he lowered us down off the truck and we all got out. Margie decided to come with us on Front Runner, so I wasn't by myself with the kids again and Lloyd went with the tow truck to the Honda dealership in Murray. We got our tickets and then had to wait about 15 minutes for the train to come.
The train was nice and cool, and we were very thankful for that. We were all very hot. It was in the high 90's and we were feeling it. We all really enjoyed the train ride, and we made an adventure out of our situation. We got out at the Murray station and then Margie called Lloyd to see if he had a loaner car from the dealership. They were all out of loaner cars, so Lloyd was trying to get a rental van. Since he was still trying to get a vehicle, I called my dad to see if he could come get us and take us to Margie's house. Thankfully he came quickly, and we all piled into his car to go to Margie's house.
Once at Margie's we all had some water before getting in her truck and having her take us home. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get home from Layton, but we were thankful that we were able to get home. We turned the swamp cooler on high and I started getting the kids some dinner. Even though it sucked to hit that metal piece that hurt the bottom of the van, we were still very blessed with the outcome. It really could have been much worse, and we are truly blessed.
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