Due to the things going on at the house between my last “Adventurous Recap” post and today I just haven’t had time to sit down and really recap what happened.
In a nutshell we stayed at the Luray Caverns West Motel, which was luckily within easy walking distance to a McDonalds (yuck I know, but it was food) and within the delivery range of several Italian places.
After an unsuccessful conversation with the local insurance agent we made the decision to go ahead and get a rental car (provided by our insurance) and head down to Michie Tavern for the day while we figured out how best to have the car repaired.
Michie Tavern definitely hit the spot and made up for 2 meals at McD’s!! Even Sophie hit her chicken limit… tho she still had plenty of room for dessert!
We had decided that our best course of action was to have J head up with our flat bed trailer (after getting a tow quote of somewhere near $1600) and M and Sophie to head down in the rental while I stayed at the motel with the car. I was able to arrange for a friend to hang out with the boys at the farm and keep an eye on things while J and M were in transit but I had not taken into account how stressful this how adventure had been on them. In hindsight I should have had J pile Martha and the boys into the truck and had him meet M somewhere along the way… however that didn’t happen and ultimately lead to situations that I will blog about at a later date.
I will say that 4 hours that I was solo in the motel with M and J on the road was horrific. My phone was refusing to charge properly and as I was the only female in the entire motel (the other occupants being well intoxicated golfers) I didn’t feel exactly comfortable just wandering around. I had thought to spend some time sketching or writing but my pens and pencils had been nicked by Sophie for her trip back home. So I dug out a book I had purchased in Carlisle. Last Words of Sinners and Saints is not good reading when you’re slightly creeped out and by yourself.
It was a long 4 hours.
I felt so sorry for J. He drove all that long way up to Luray, slept fitfully in a less than comfortable bed, loaded up the car and headed out again the next morning. That was a lot of driving!! At least the return trip he had me chatting away in his ear… the whole time…. mostly nonstop.
So… We made it home… dropped the car off at David’s and started the process of getting the x5 back in working order. Not going to lie but it’s been a serious undertaking. So many things were damaged from that deer that had to be replaced… things that were damaged that damaged other things that had to be replaced. At one point I seriously thought the car was going to be totaled but thankfully it was not.
The car was completed and ready to go just in time for our next trip to MD for feed. Happily that trip went uneventfully and we have since changed feed to a locally available product which works out better for both our horses and our cars 🙂
Had I been able to write this closer to the time it happened I’m sure there would’ve been more humor but so many things that happened on this trip started the downward decline of Martha that I can’t really look at it with humor anymore. Martha was always a sensitive person and would fret over perceived issues. Her worry over us having a wreck, her worrying over M and J driving so far. Her worry over me being alone so far from home. Her worry over situations that happened with the boys while we were away. All those worries surely didn’t help an already unwell woman.
tapsalteerie farm 