101 Things to do When the Unexpected Happens on your Road Trip

I'm pretty sure Damarise and I need to publish a book titled, 101 Things to do When the Unexpected Happens on your Road Trip, because we have had our share of the unexpected happening on our road trips.

The opening chapter could be The Tale of Two Transmissions (or Lack Thereof) telling about our infamous road trip this summer that ended in the loss of not one, but two transmissions. From there we could have chapters 2, 3, and 4 The Rainstorm that Couldn't Stay Away, three edge-of-your-seat chapters on the rainstorms that have plagued the past three road trips we have taken. The windshield wipers frantically wiping, vision obstructed by the massive amounts of water pouring down upon us, and cars sliding around us – oh, it'd be an exciting chapter for sure.

The last ten chapters would be titled Breaking Records: How we were Part of the World's Worse Thanksgiving Traffic Ever. This would cover ten chapters because it represents the amount of time we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic coming back from Thanksgiving Break. Yes, that's right, 10 solid hours of traffic in the rain (because as I said before, the rainstorm just couldn't stay away) stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic.

That was our road trip home yesterday. We decided to leave at 8:00am because we knew that there was rain in the forecast. And the weather forecast was not wrong, we had rain the entire trip. When we left yesterday morning (exactly at 8:00am) our GPS said we would arrive home at 6:15pm. This was perfect, early enough to unpack and get to bed at a decent hour.

And then we hit Indianapolis and traffic. We were in a constant traffic jam from Indianapolis to Chattanooga! It was unbelievable! We blared music, talked loudly, saw some friendly faces in the traffic, opened doors and waved feet out them, called friends, yelled, laughed, and watched as our estimated time of arrival continued to go up.

We eventually made it home at 11:30pm. Fifteen hours in the car was definitely the unexpected. But God kept us safe through the sudden traffic and the rain, and for that I am thankful! We also found many things to keep us sane while being stuck.

... Maybe Damarise and I won't publish a book, but if you ever need tips on what to do when the unexpected happens on your road trip. We might have some helpful tips! Because we've been there when the unexpected happens.