The Flat Tires

We had just flown across country without incident, then ten Minutes after leaving Washington National airport in our rental car, we hobbled into the Hotel with two (count them, two) flat tires.

I confess, I ran over a curb that I didn't see as we were pulling into the Hotel. The next thing you know... two flats. After a few strategic phone calls, the car was towed, and I was to return to the rental desk at the airport to complete the paperwork and get a new car.

After a day in the city (see that blog posting), I took two shuttles that finally got me back to the rental desk. I then had to wait in line for 30 minutes to speak to a service person who set me up with a new rental car. By the time I got to the lot, I was ready to be done with this. Saddly, the car wouldn't start... dead battery. I was sent to another line to get yet another rental.

As they say, the third time was the charm. But the saga does not stop here.

When I returned to the hotel eveyone was getting ready to go out to eat. Side Track reminded the girls to bring something warm because resturants tend to be cool. At this, Peanut let out a gasp and a sort of scream... she left her duffle bag in (you guessed it) the first rental car. With her bag was her long sleeved jacket, her iPod and most importantly... Ducky. She has had Ducky since she was a few months old. She was a mess.

So I made a few more calls and left a few choice messages, but at this point, I was not confident I'd have good news to share with Peanut. By the next morning, there was still no word and we were getting ready to leave for our next destination. I placed one more call and that was all we could do. A pall has settled upon the car as we pulled out of the hotel.

About six blocks from the hotel, because of some very poor markings I missed a key turn to get to the Interstate highway... so I drove up a block looking for a place to turn around. Off to my right I noticed a small industrial park and on the top of one of the buildings, about a block or so off the main road, I saw the name of the auto rental agency we were using. I turned to Side Track and asked, "what are the changes?" to which she responded, if it was going to happen to anyone, it would probably be you".

So we pulled up and after a few minutes of trying to find someone, I found a gentleman and described my situation. He smiled a knowing smile and told me to follow him. He took me to the parking lot and there, in the middle of a bunch of cars, leaning distictly to the left was the original van we had rented! And when I opened the door and looked into the back seat... voila, there was the pink duffle bag AND ducky! Talk about dumb luck.

So despite all that has and will continue to happen during this family adventure... we will always know we have ducky. Thank goodness we found ducky.