We earned the nickname the Griswold's because no matter where we traveled some kind of disaster happened upon us. Just like the famous Griswold family from National Lampoons Vacation.
The Griswold’s Part 1
You were sent to the wrong base. Yes, that is what we were told when we arrived in Ft. Lee Virginia. Unfortunately, it was on a Friday of a holiday weekend, and we were told to wait until the following Tuesday until they could straighten out the paperwork and so that the army could give us the extra travel money to report to the correct base. Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri. You see the mix up right. Ft. Lee, Ft. Leonard Wood. Classic!
After that jumble we had only 2 days to drive to Ft. Leonard Wood, the military does not care if they are at fault. You have to report no matter what or you are AWOL. The following Tuesday we started our 1000 mile journey.
Ah, the mountains of West Virginia, beautiful but it was nighttime and we were traveling at the speed of light to get to our destination. My husband and I got into a little argument because I decided he was driving too fast. Mind you, we are in unfamiliar territory, the highway was this long and never-ending road of twists and turns and runaway truck ramps. (Runaway truck ramps are for trucks who can’t stop because they are having breaking problems) This happens when you are driving on a highway in the mountains.
Where is our money? The first stroke of bad luck. Losing all our money in the mountains of. How you ask. Considering we were on limited time to get to where we were going, speed was the one thing on our side. Speeding through the mountains, not such a good idea. My husband and I got into a little argument when I asked him to slow down. We stopped to get gas at some rinky-dink gas station in the middle of nowhere. In the mountains all the gas stations, restaurants etc. were below, meaning all the off ramps led you down into a little valley area. Anyway, we were arguing, I had all the money and travelers checks in a waist bag. I slammed the bag on the back of the car (our old Camaro with the tail fin) and told my husband to take it, after I had paid for the gas. He picked up the bag or so I thought, and off we went. About 20 minutes later he said, “lets get some food” and it struck, where was the bag with all the money.
We set off into a panic, not remembering what gas station we had been to (they all looked the same); we checked every gas station going back for miles, no bag! We thought for sure someone picked it up and stole it. Here we are, in the middle of nowhere and no money. We drove up and down the highway looking on the side of the road. We figured if someone stole it, they took what they wanted and tossed it out the window. We did this for about an hour, up and down, back and forth on the road to nowhere. Then we spotted something on the side of the highway and we stopped.
There was our bag, the zipper broke and all our money was scattered on the grass. The bag hung onto the back of the car until it finally slid off. We found everything but a $20 dollar traveler’s check. (to this day I never have all my money when traveling in one place).
The Griswold’s Part II coming soon! It gets even better