Thanksgiving Short Story

WARNING: Stephen wanted me to warn everyone that this is my 1st attempt at a nonfiction short story and to make sure you have a good 10 minutes to spare.


Have you ever had “one” of those trips that you look back on and laugh? Well, our 2006 Thanksgiving trip from Texas to Deep Creek, Maryland was “one” of those trips…

Our Thanksgiving adventure started in October when Stephen finally decided to join his family at his mother’s lake house in Deep Creek, Maryland. After debating whether to fly or drive and exactly who was going, we decided to all drive due to the price of 4 plane tickets plus a rental car.

So, Stephen had his Thanksgiving shift covered & had “taken care of” his shift before Thanksgiving and after Thanksgiving Day. Therefore we had from November 18th-28th for vacation. So good so far, right?

Well, Stephen came home at noon on the 18th ready to go! We loaded up the kids and were ready to hook the pop-up camper to the truck, BUT THE TRUCK WILL NOT START!

Now let me back up a little bit to fill you in on why the truck is not starting…

About 2 weeks prior, Stephen & Richard changed out the starter in the truck and it was working O.K. except that it was getting progressively harder to start. So, we figured the starter was malfunctioning, but on a return trip to O’Reilly’s, they assured us that the starter was working fine. We then eliminated the starter switch and came to the conclusion that the flex plate was worn and probably missing some teeth (the starter turns the flex plate which in turn starts the motor). Now in order for the flex plate to be replaced, someone has to drop the transmission & Stephen can fix practically anything, but he didn’t want to get into a job that big by himself. So, being 6pm on Saturday we had to decide what to do about going to Maryland. Our choices were:

1. Not go to Maryland & spend Thanksgiving week getting the truck fixed,
2. Load up the Saturn & drive to Thanksgiving as planned (sort of, because we would have to stop over at hotels instead of camping & not be as comfortable in the Saturn), or
3. Take the Toyota as planned & take a big wrench to manually turn the flex plate to a “good spot” where the starter could grab it.

After sleeping on it, being the optimistic adventurers that we are, Stephen & I decided to take a chance and take the Toyota & the wrench!

So, we loaded up the kids a second time, used the wrench to start the truck and took off! Since starting the truck was our main issue, we decided to leave the car running for the 3 day trip, stopping the engine for the 2 overnights only. This worked great for the first day. We ate at the Subway & Pizza Huts that were conveniently housed with gas stations :-) We only had one episode where Stephen was following a semi while it had a blowout. Stephen was just starting to pass him, so the tire just barely scraped the side of the trailer only taking out a small marker light and making a nice long black scratch down the side. We stopped overnight at Lake Catherine just outside of Hot Springs, AK. The truck started up great the next morning and we continued on just fine until the trailer got a flat tire. We drove about 1.5 miles on the rim until we exited at a rest stop to change the tire. We left the truck running & continued on to Mammoth Cave National Park in KY. It was pretty cold in Kentucky at this point & we needed to run the furnace to keep Serena (Samuel’s tortoise) warm enough, but the furnace is on the same side as the tire that went flat & during the 1.5 miles of driving with a flat, the furnace was damaged & making a VERY loud noise that we could not sleep through. So, Stephen had already begun setting up the pop-up, so with a lot of grunting noises coming from Papa Hope, we took down the pop-up to continue on until we got to a park that had electricity hook-ups (National parks do not have electricity hook-ups for campers). Being 9pm, it was dark & we were getting a little bit frustrated & I pulled out of the camp site with one of the back stabilizer legs down-OOPS! Stephen was able to bang it back into shape-kind of. So, we continue on until we reach My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, KY. At midnight, we are set up, Serena’s heat lamp is plugged in, I in my kerchief and Pa in his cap, we are all huddled together for a good night’s nap.

The next morning, Stephen jumps up at 8am, ready to make it to Deep Creek Lake!! It is very cold, but Serena’s cage is a comfortable 90 degrees (“Lucky Stinkin’ Turtle!!”). So, we start loading up and need to start the truck’s heater to move Serena from one warm environment to another, but…THE TRUCK WILL NOT START!! Our trusty wrench isn’t even doing its magic. Meanwhile, a gentleman from the campground stops to see if we need any help, and Stephen says, “Thank you, but no thank you.” Well, the guy feels obliged to bring back the golf course mechanic (example #1 of Kentuckian hospitality), because “if anyone can help, Rocky can.” Well, Rocky says that the starter isn’t grabbing the flex plate & manually tries to turn the flex plate to a good spot. So, great, we are all on the same page here! We all come to the conclusion that the truck’s motor is having trouble turning over because it is so cold. So, Rocky goes back to work & we wait for the sun to come out & warm up the engine. The kids run all around the golf course, Serena spends the day in the pro-shop (example #2 of Kentuckian hospitality, from here on out just labeled by number) & we hum & haw, trying to start the truck periodically. In the meantime, Stephen fixes the furnace. Yeah! Once the day warms up and the truck is still not starting, Rocky says that he can change out the flex plate if we could find one (#3, but not just #3-little did we know that this would be the GREATEST example of Kentuckian hospitality). Well, after numerous calls, including a “help me” call to Patty Carpenter in Lexington which is only 1 hour away, AutoZone can get a flex plate by the next day. So, Rocky’s supervisor gives Steve a ride into town to order the part (#4). We then have to decide whether to stay another night (which the park was very kindly not going to charge us for [#5]) and wait for Rocky to fix the truck & drive to Deep Creek on Wednesday or rent a car, go to Deep Creek & give Rocky some time to fix the truck. Stephen decides on the latter, we rent a car (which is infested with roaches) and exchange phone numbers with Rocky & have a tow truck take the Toyota to Rocky’s house. Rocky is nice enough to bring his truck the next day to work & pick up the pop-up & store it at his house (#6). Before we leave the state park we get another experience of how nice Kentuckians are…the golf pro brings hot chocolate out to the kids (#7)!

So, we are now off to Maryland crammed into a little rental care infested with roaches at about 5 pm. Yeah! We make it to Deep Creek Lake at 11:58 pm without event. Everyone except Eliza is still awake to greet us & we end up having a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Throughout our stay in Deep Creek we are wondering if Rocky has taken our truck & pop-up to California, or maybe just the local Bardstown chop-shop, but no one we ask has heard a bad word of Rocky Dorman of Bardstown, KY. We still only have his business card to remind us that nothing is guaranteed.

Our four days in Deep Creek was very pleasant, except for Stephen cracking a rib after falling down the icy steps carrying a sleeping Sam. We played a lot of Mexican Train Dominoes and Sequence & I had a VERY late night with a good friend from Catonsville, Kris. Thanksgiving dinner was FABULOUS!!


We finally get word on Saturday that Rocky has fixed the truck, but he says that the original starter that is faulty & we should try to not start the truck as much as possible until we replace the starter. No Problem! We have first hand experience on how to drive without turning off the truck :-) We are just happy that we have our truck to drive back to Texas. We say good-bye to all of the Hope/Myers family & head off to Lexington following Mary Elizabeth to her house. We have a great night’s sleep & are looking forward to seeing good ole Rocky Dorman.

We reach his house and his wife kindly greeted us. Rocky had the trailer hooked up & ready to go (example #8 of Kentucky hospitality). So, Stephen starts up the truck and takes it for a test run while Rocky’s wife shows Maya & I her horses (#9). When Stephen returns, we load everything back into the truck from the rental. Meanwhile, Rocky’s daughter comes home and offers to make us sandwiches for the road-wow (#10)! We take the rental back into town & then look for a place to get the trailer’s spare tire repaired just in case we get another flat on the way home. The tire place does not have one in stock, but she calls around to 3 stores & finds a tire for us. She then tells Stephen to go pick it up and they will put it on the rim for only $5 (#11 or this might be credited to Stephen’s charming personality & looks :-).

So, we are all ready to go, but now only have 2 days to drive about 20 hours. Very tired and very relieved, we make it back on time for Stephen to go back to work on Wednesday! Whew! What a trip! Moral of this story: Don’t try to drive from Texas to Maryland with a faulty starter & always try to drive through Kentucky, just in case you may need someone to help you out :-)

Our Kentucky Superhero, Rocky Dorman