Dayna's Place: Independence

WOO HOO! We had a GREAT July 4th Week at my parents ranch this year! We have made it down to the HEAT of the Rio Grande Valley probably at least 4 times out of the last 5 years (skipping Jake's 1st July 4th since he was only 7 months old).

We are not sure why we think this is a good time to go to the ranch, in the middle of the summer where temps reach 110 EASILY in the SHADE! It wasn't actually too bad, but it was HOT and we needed to stay inside for most of the afternoons. The evenings were however really nice!

We did have a bit of drama, as we always do. Someday I hope to have a trip with NO DRAMA! Two weeks before we headed out, our Vincent (our mini van - aka Vincent Van Go) decided it didn't want to go to the ranch anymore. EVER. We apparently need a new transmission which cost $3500. NO FLAGS! NO MORE GO FOR VINCENT! Anyway, we are in the market for a new car. Anyway, we start calling and calling and calling van rentals, but since it's a holiday, most places are booked. So, I called one more place that serviced Texas, and YEY! They had a van available, but it was in Dallas so we had to pay extra for them to drive it to us. So, we paid the $800 to rent for a week and have them deliver and pick it up, which we THOUGHT we were being smart.

We head out to the ranch on Wednesday Afternoon after I get off work, since I got off at 2 for the holiday. Everything is going fine, the van is a little "shaky" but we are so used to that we didn't think twice about it. Then, around 6:30ish, as I'm passing a car with another truck tailgating me something horrible, it happens. I start smelling something burning and the car starts shaking really really bad! We had a #$%@ing FLAT TIRE!!! Seven miles outside of Edna, Tx, just on the East side of the Navidad River. Me, Dean, Jake and Buddy and a STUPID FLAT TIRE!

See that Arrow, that's where we were!!!

We call the rental company to see if the guy (Ken) can help us call around the area for a tire shop. We also call the roadside assistance hotline on the back of our driver's license, and we get two cops come out to change our tire with a DONUT tire! ARGH! Ken calls the Victoria Walmart tire shop and they close at 7, but agree to wait for us to get there at 7:30. Well, we were a bit late, we got there at 7:45, however they were all still there, changed our tire as fast as they could, and we were on our way. Thank goodness for small towns! We owe a load of gratitude to that Walmart in Victoria, Texas and their tire shop, and to the rental guy from Primear Rental that did all the calling and set it up for us.

After all this, we finally get to the ranch and were able to have a great weekend on 4 good tires on the Silver Bullet Robby the Rental Van.

Here are some of the great pictures we had. My brother Joe and his family were also there, as well as another family friend, Tom. We had AWESOME Fireworks and great BBQ and fun!