Take the long way home...

It seems like we have been driving for weeks! We are actually about a day behind schedule of what we planned due to a few unforeseen incidents. We left really late Tuesday so we only got as far as Kingman, AZ. Wednesday morning we got up and started driving toward Flagstaff when the AC went out in the Kia (our minivan). There was no way I was dragging 3 kids, a dog, and a bird through hundreds of miles of desert in July with no AC!

We're not cool enough (or rich enough!) to have an iPhone or a GPS so we did the next best thing and called back to Vegas and had our good buddy Eric Hoenigmann find us a mechanic in Flagstaff. He did and off we went.

Well, after about 3 hours of sitting around, the mechanic determined that it was a switch in our compressor and he couldn't do it. So we called the Kia dealership. They were booked through Friday so we called ahead to Albuquerque. One of the two Kia dealerships there said, "Sure, we can fit you in tomorrow. Come on in as early as you can." Great! So by this time we just rolled down the windows and toughed it to Gallup. It was actually pretty cool outside because of the higher elevation.

It was getting late and we were zonked by the time we pulled in to Gallup. Unfortunately for us, there was a junior rodeo in Gallup that weekend and EVERY room in EVERY hotel was booked. So we drove another hour and a half to Grants, New Mexico. We almost didn't get a room there because the spillover from the rodeo in Gallup had spread. But we did manage to find a pet friendly hotel with a vacancy, even though it was a dive. Unfortunately, for the second night in a row, our dog, Piper, had trouble settling down for the night. He was a little freaked at this whole different room every night thing. Finally, he settled down about 2 AM. Then at about 6 AM a dog in the next room started barking his head off! This dog was losing his mind, I'm tellin' you! I guess his owners went off to breakfast without him or something. Anyways, we only got about four hours of sleep that night.

So we get up and hoof it to Albuquereqe to meet up with the Kia guy and get the air working. We drive for about 2 and a half hours and when we find the place the uys says, "I can't see you today! We are booked into next week." Of course I didn't get the name of the idiot that told me to "come on in." So he called the other Kia dealer and they said the same thing. I pleaded my case to the guy but he wasn't budging.

By this time I was about done with Kia. I called their 1-800 customer relations number and told them how badly their customer service stunk. There response was that since my vehicle was no longer under warranty, they could not help me. I was hot!!!

Pastor Steve Whipple to the rescue. Steve, our pastor at Church at the Ridge, has been great to call and check on us every day. When I told him what was up, he immediately jumped on the computer and Googled a Kia dealer at our next stop in Amarillo, TX. I called ahead and made an appointment so they would be sure to see us.

We drove on to Amarillo and stopped for the night. It was cool most of that day but toward the end of the day it began to get warm, The next morning I took the Kia in to Nelson Bridges at Pete's Car Smart Kia. He was awesome!!! At last, some customer service! When I told him my story and how the other Kia dealers weren't willing to help us out, he just smiled and said in his Texas drawl, "That ain't how we do things in Texas." Well, yeehaw!

Nelson got us in and out before check out time at the hotel. Sure it cost us $600 but we had a LOT of miles still to cover and it wasn't going to get any cooler as we went. Only more humid! So thankfully, the trip turned around from that point and has been great since then.

As I write we are at our last stop for the trip, Tupelo, MS. We will get up tomorrow and drive into Georgia. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and encouragement. I gotta go eat pizza now so I will write mmore later. Later!