S

STRANDED IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE


Eloy, Arizona or in better terms,middle of nowhere.

Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
Or get yourself in a bind lose the shirt off your back
Need a floor, need a couch, need a bus fare

This is where the rubber meets the road
This is where the cream is gonna rise
This is what you really didn't know
This is where the truth don't lie

{Chorus}
You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are

~Tracy Lawrence

I received a phone call at 1:00 p.m. Mi chica called me to let me know that my daughter, her husband and two kids got stranded on their way to Phoenix. They were on their way to spend Easter weekend with the rest of the family.

Well, remember what happened to us two weeks ago, yeap it happened to them too. They didn't quite get a flat tire but the top layer did come out. This is typical in Arizona specially during the summer and today believe it or not it felt as if summer is already here. I know, it's hard to believe for some of you back east as you are still battling rain and even snow, but here it was hot and to top it off I was waring black Levy's.



Two of the four stranded passengers.

Of course they called mi chica first, and I was the last to find out but as soon as I was told I hit the streets looking for a replacement tire and after gassing up the car got on the freeway and hit the road. When I finally got there almost an hour and a half later my daughter's best friend Jasmin was already there. I asked her what she was doing there and she said she was on the phone with Michelle when it happened and she asked her "Do you want me to go?" to which Michelle replied "No you don't have to, my daddy is coming" but she told herself, "Jasmin, she is pregnant, it's a desert, hit the road".

Jasmin got to them about 20 minutes before I got there. Anyway there was a tire shop about half a mile from where they were (this they didn't know until much later), I was like darn I could have saved an hour from looking for a tire in Phoenix. Anyway, the car and it's passengers made it to the tire shop and the tire was mounted and twenty minutes later we were on the road back to Phoenix.


Car after it was fixed.

About five miles from Queen Creek the traffic goes to a halt and it's bumper to bumper at five miles an hour for the next hour or so, the sun was hitting right on my leg and it was burning, turned out there was an accident involving five or six cars, people driving down I-10 are maniacs at the wheel so there are many accidents all the time. But eventually we passed the accident and we started going fast again.

I had a little passenger which I requested as once we get to Chandler we can use the carpool lane and being that it was going to be "rush hour" I needed a partner. For the first half an hour this little partner just would not keep quiet. He asked me if we were almost home but I told him that we were still a long way from home and suggested for him to take a nap. He politely declined and I said OK, a minute later I turned around to see him and he is totally asleep. So much for no thanks grandpa, I'll stay awake with you.





OK, this picture could be deceiving, because there was a lot of traffic and yet it doesn't look like it. Anyway, in front of me is Jasmin and Michelle, and if front of them Jr. and Alaina. See we all had a buddy, notice we are on the carpool lane.

We finally got to the house a around 5:00 p.m. and mi chica about five minutes later, we cleaned up a bit and got changed, Diego actually took a bath and then we went to the store to buy some cooked fish for dinner.

No matter what the situation, we always try to make it fun and this was no exception. Yes, I am the grandpa and daddy but Jasmin is a friend. And as the song says, "You find out who your friends are, someone will drop everything". Thank you Jasmin, we love you.



No, you are not seeing double and I guarantee you this picture has not been photo shopped, after freshening up, Diego and I dressed the same to go to the store.