We Had the WORST Vacation Ever!!

This past weekend was the Cox fishing tournament. We have been looking forward to it for months. Chris and I love to fish every chance we get and this was a chance to fish for money! What could be better? Well, I can tell you what could be worse.........our whole weekend! It started bad, ended bad and only had a glimmer of hope in the middle! For one thing we waited too long to make reservations for a hotel room. We wanted to leave on Thursday so we could get up early Friday and scope out the lake for good spots. However, I called every hotel in Atoka, Oklahoma and there were no rooms for Thursday night. Finally I found a place we could check in on Friday. Basically we got the last hotel room in town. Friday we were supposed to get on the road about 6 am. That would have given us plenty of time to still check out the lake and fish awhile before checking in for the tournament at 6 pm. Chris has poured his heart and soul into this dinky little aluminum boat of Dad's trying to get it ready to go. Last year we took it out there and it worked in the driveway and wouldn't work once we got there. We were determined to avoid that fate this time. I can't even tell you the hours and hours Chris has put in and the hundreds of dollars Dad has shelled out to make this boat work. Anyhow, Chris was installing seats on the boat and didn't get finished by Thursday night. So we decided we could get up early to work on it and if we left by 9 or 10 we could still check out the lake a little. Well it took three times longer to fix the seats than anticipated. Then when we finally started loading up the truck a massive thunderstorm rolled in. We were running around in the rain drenched to the core trying to load up. Eventually the storm let up and we didn't leave until 1 pm. It was a 4 hour drive there. We barely made it there to check in at the hotel and get to the lake. So we didn't get to put the boat in the water at all. Not even for 5 minutes to make sure it was going to run. The funny thing was that on the drive down Chris and I were talking about how everytime we try to do something special together or special with the kids it always ends in disaster. We were motivated during the drive and decided that this was the weekend that we break the curse! We really needed a few days out of town with each other. Away from the kids, work, cell phones, friends and family. Just the two of us! It was a nice road trip down there.

A nice surprise was the hotel. I didn't know what kind of hotel room I had booked or what kind of place it was in. All I knew was that I managed to get the last room in town by calling every single hotel so we had to take whatever we got. It turned out that the hotel was really nice and close to the highway that lead to the lake. That it about the last positive thing I can say.

At some point that weekend driving back and forth I thought a rock hit the windshield but we didn't see any chips or marks to prove it. So we forgot about it. We had drawn launch number 5 which is good if you know your boat is going to work. Last year we only had 30 boats in the tournament. This year we had almost 60. So that is a lot of people to get embarassed in front of if your dinky little boat won't run. Everyone there has nice expensive new bass boats. We, of course, were the only people there with a hundred year old tin foil boat. I had almost wished I had drawn boat 60! We felt pretty confident about the boat being able to run. Chris had worked so hard and it ran in the driveway the night before for almost an hour. On the other hand we were both "waiting for the other shoe to drop" as disaster is always present for our events. We got up at 3:30 am and got to the dock at 5:00am. It was too freakin early to even deal with disaster! And what happens? Sure enough.....we get on the water and the boat mocks us. Amongst the sputtering and clouds of smoke I can hear the motor laughing at us saying, "You fools! You have wasted your time with me!" So here we are in front of 60 boats of 2 man teams and countless volunteers with a broken and useless boat. Everyone just went ahead and launched onto the lake while we sat there cursing the boat and trying to figure out what to do. Our only option was to use the trolling motor and head over to a little cove close to the docks. Which, may I mention, is the most fished out area in the whole lake. So we kissed the $1500 grand prize goodbye and tried to just enjoy the day on the water hanging out with each other. Chris ended up catching 4 fish to my 0. First time in 7 years Chris has ever out fished me! I guess I have to let him win every now and then though! We had a nice time out on the water but it was so frustrating just knowing that for the 2nd year in a row we were stuck with a broken boat. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if Dad and Chris hadn't spent so much money and so much time preparing the boat. Dad even took his free time to find maps of the lake and study them so we would know the lake well and find the best fishing spots. In the end we placed 20th out of 60. Which I guess is okay. But there was no prize for place 20. :(

We stayed Saturday night even though most of the tournament participants went on home. Everyone else there had shown up a day early like we had wanted to. There was nothing at all to do in this little town. The only thing open past 10 (besides Walmart) was a little bar up the highway called Joyce's Bar in Lane, OK. I was scared to walk into a little townie bar. It was obvious that all the people there were long time residents and very close. I wasn't sure how accepting they would be of strangers. Turned out they were some of the nicest people I had ever met but we came about an inch away from witnessing a bar brawl. It was like something out of an old western. Luckily the guy causing trouble got ushered out before any punches were thrown. I would not have wanted to see the results of any kind of fight in there.

Sunday morning we get in the truck to head home. The windshield was cracked all the way from the bottom up. I guess that rock I thought may have hit the windshield did do some damage after all. With the heat and the windows rolled up it took no time at all for the whole windshield to crack. Wonderful. The boat didn't work and now we have to come up with a bunch of money to replace the windshield. I'm just thrilled. So that made the drive home a little grumpy. We were making great time and were eager to see the kids. I hate being away from them for very long. We were nearly home and the wheel flew off the boat trailer, bounced off a passing truck and landed in a field! We pulled over and the left side of the trailer was just sitting on the axel ( i assume that is what it's called). I looked around and we were on i-40 between the Dale exit and McCloud exit. Which means I was about 1 mile and a half from my grandma Irene's house. You can take either of those exits to her house. I guess if it had to happen at least we were close to a relative's home. Which means I had to call my Aunt Jeanie. My Sanders family doesn't know much about my relationship with my mom's family, but it's strained at best. Esp with Jeanie. Jeanie and I have been in a few shouting matches and I've nearly punched her in the jaw a few times. Which isn't much like me. I try to behave like a lady as much as possible. We always fight about my mom though. And if you are going to argue with me about my mother you better come prepared. She is my best friend in the whole world and I feel just as protective over her as I do one of my children. Anyhow, I had to swallow my pride and called Aunt Jeanie. Turns out she was really nice and took good care of us. We had the boat towed to her house (she lives with grandma) so we wouldn't have a huge tow bill. She gave us the number of the wrecker company accross the street from her house and even came out to the highway and checked on us. So now the broken boat is sitting in grandma's driveway.

To sum up......the boat didn't work, the tournament was a wash, the windsheild busted and the wheel flew off the boat trailer. I don't plan on taking any more vacations for awhile!