i could begin this post by saying that keegans are notorious for their bad relationship with cars. 6 girls, 12+ accidents. my poor father. i myself have totaled two cars. i could begin this post that way. but i wont.
i could begin this post by saying that it will undoubtedly be a long one. i could urge you to give it a try and let me prove to you that it absolutely has to be this long. i could. but i wont.
instead, ill just begin by telling you that saturday, july 30 kier and i were both dead to the world. (except we didnt know that just 24 hours later we would really know what dead to the world meant). we had both gotten very very very little sleep that week and it was the last day of camp. the plan, albeit not ideal, was to drive home to cary (leaving camp at 1, getting home at 3) to go to a wedding (at 3:30) of one of our best friends, rush straight from there (at 4 hopefully, but actually 4:20) back to camp for staff banquet (at 6) and then from there enjoy camp activities through the night and leave at about 3 am to go back home to cary so that kier could be leave our house at noon to go to the airport and begin her adventures in indonesia. whoa. lots o' travelling. our parents were skeptical of our plan but kier and i are nothing if we aren't headstrong. and by that i mostly just mean kier. as we were leaving the church my dad gave us two rules: 1. both of us have to stay awake for the trips so that the driver doesnt fall asleep. 2. get gas on the way back to camp.
no one really can understand what justifications/rationalizations/reasonings were going on in our heads as we decided that we didn't in fact need to get gas on the way back to camp. yes, the gas light was on. yes, it had been on for 30 minutes. but we were on a time crunch and as we pulled into camp at exactly 6, we were feeling invincible, but apparently our gas tank wasn't.
we enjoyed our evening of dance parties, fondue, prayer and sharing, staff videos, gifts, delirium while signing objects, etc etc etc. we were running behind schedule but as we left at about 3:15 we felt like nothing could stop us. we drove straight to the only gas station in littleton, knowing that we were in dire need of some gas. now, in cary, no matter what time of day or night you can always use your card at the pump and get gas. not so in little 1 stoplight littleton. the pumps were all closed down. we convinced ourselves that we could make it to the next gas station, even though it was about 45 minutes away. i think that was the no-sleep talking. so i decided to pray our way to gas.
about ten minutes down the road i found myself pumping the accelerator with the speedometer rapidly declining. running.out.of.gas. but i looked up and saw a glimmer of hope. a gas station. maybe their pumps were turned on? as we glided into the gas station we soon realized that their pumps were most likely not on considering they didnt even have pumps. sketchhhhh. so we sat there at medlin grocer and gas right next to arcola street, locked the doors, and called julia rice to come get us. she woke up our friend, stephen, who seemed pretty savvy (note 'seemed') and they said they would figure something out and come rescue us.
at this point my mom decided to call me. remember it is about 3 45 am. weird. so i answered and told her we ran out of gas but assured her that it wasn't a big deal and we would be on our way in no time. stephen and julia soon arrived with a gas caddy that they found at camp that is normally used to fill the golf carts and filled our tank with 12 gallons of gas, enough to make it home. we thanked them, they laughed at us, we exchanged goodbyes again. and left ol medlin.
about 5 minutes down the road, the van started lurching. and by lurching i mean malfunctioning to the max. i tried not to panic and called stephen to ask if golf cart gas was the same as car gas. before the question even left my mouth the van flashed all its lights at me and shut off. great. so kier and i were now in the middle of the road broken down. stephen and julia turned around and sat with us as we waited for the police to come. the police came and told us we probably should have filled up last night (thank you sir) and called the tow company. who came about 20 minutes later. so at this point it is about 5 15. we head back towards camp. we had been traveling for 2 hours and our net distance was zero by the time we got back to camp. my parents left at about 5 30 to come get us, from cary, and bring us home because gas or no gas kier was still moving to indonesia. they told us that they better not have to come find us when they got to camp. we were going to sit in the parking lot and wait but of course it was storming so we sat on the dining hall porch with boxes (because i was moving home with all of my stuff). kier ended up curling up on the little floor mat and i just sat on the bench staring out at misery. robbie, our boss, came out of his baggage car at about 6 30 to let the dog out. and he found kier and i just staring. sometimes i like to imagine how this looked to him, two very tired, disheveled girls siting and staring, not talking, not to mention we were supposed to be at home. we told robbie our sob story and he informed us that was not golf cart gas (which by the way is the same as car gas) but mower gas. aka diesel. kewl. so my parents finally arrived, kier and i could hardly look at them as we loaded ourselves into the car and finally began our journey home.
yeah, that was probably one of the worst nights of my life. my only all-nighter ever. however, i think it was the perfect way to say goodbye to kier. a little adventure, a little stupidity, a little laughter, a little last hoorah. i miss her like crazy but i at least have the last night together to think back upon.
so 800 dollars, a few air filters, two towing companies and a couple lectures later, she's in indonesia and im in cary. but it was the best ending.
