Thanks for the Trouble

 We all went to Las Vegas for a couple of days.  We drove and had lots of time to talk about other trips we'd made.  Did we talk about the ones that went off without a hitch?  No.  Because honestly there wasn't much to talk about.  Instead we talked about the time we'd hit a terrible rain storm and another time when we were in a friend's car which we discovered half way there was having engine trouble.  We had all instinctively leaned forward hoping it would make the car have more power as we drove through the hot desert.  The whole ride, we'd wondered if we could make it.

We did and while we were in Vegas got the  fixed. I don't remember what the problem was other than it seems like we were lucky to have made it.  The ride back had a touch of trouble when one of us thought they had left their phone and we pulled off the highway at an exit called Zzyzz Road.  It was night and in the dark there was nothing to see but emptiness and  a sky full of stars.  While the family member found they actually had their phone, I checked out the sky and wanted to get out of the car, but there was a sinister looking big rig truck parked on the side of the road. Or at least, the rest of the people in the car thought it was creepy looking.  It was probably just dark because the driver was sleeping.  Anyway, no more star gazing for me and it was back on the road.  Every time we pass that exit, one of us tells the story.

There isn't much to tell when things go well.  It's the trouble that makes them makes them memorable.  Since it's Thanksgiving, someone here will definitely tell the story of my husband's aunt who invited everyone to dinner and then forgot to turn on the oven to cook the turkey.  Dinner was at midnight.

Of all the perfect birthday cakes my mother made for me and others, the one I remember the most is the cake that fell on one side.  My birthday is around Easter and she always decorated my cake for the holiday.  This time she made green icing and arranged all the little chickens and ducks  so it looked like they were going up a hill.  I thought it was wonderful.

So what was memorable about this trip to Las Vegas?  Not the fact that the hotel was excellent and that the one of us who gambles went home a winner.  No.  What we are already talking about--- the supposed five hour drive that became eight hours both ways.  Going because there were high winds and it was a sea of red lights as we crept along down a mountain to the Nevada border because dust made the visibility bad.  On the way back it was the sea of red lights on the Cajon Pass because there was construction and fewer lanes.  Both ways because we had to keep charging the Tesla.  Unlike going to a gas station where you can just fill the tank, Tesla decides how much power you can get, but never seems to fill the battery.  One of the charging stations we stopped at during the trip was right below the final approach to the Las Vegas Airport.  The planes literally flew right above the car.  It was late at night which made it a combo of eerie and cool.

There are lots more stories of mini disasters I can think of.  Getting stuck on the Eiffel Tower when the elevator broke.  The time I got trapped under a dingy in Malibu.  So many others misadventures I can think about  that are so much more interesting than the times I've taken smooth uneventful flight that arrived on time.

A Post Script -- We were supposed to have Thanksgiving dinner with some family friends.  We had dropped off dessert last night and I had just finished making biscuits to take with.  It was barely a half an hour before we were to leave and one of us realized he was too sick to go.  We all stayed home.  It was five o'clock.  I raided the refrigerator and made fresh cranberry sauce to go with the mashed sweet potatoes I had gotten at Costco the night before.  I roasted cauliflower and made cole slaw.  There were the biscuits. I found Tofurky slices for vegetarian me and real turkey slices for the meat eaters.  You better believe this Thanksgiving will become part of the repertoire of stories of when things don't go right.