So they say disaster + time = great memories.

And isn’t university life all about making great memories?

I think so.

Although it’s hard having Gabe so far away, and we miss him, it’s pretty fun to watch him spread his wings and experience adventures on his own. We have seen him grow tremendously over the past couple of years – and it has been awesome!

A big downfall is I don’t get a lot of pictures of him. I end up just documenting “big events” and although we hear about the ins and outs of his days, I’m not able to snap a random pic (although that’s harder with everyone as they seem to be coming in and out the door faster than ever!)

On the weekend, I heard Rob on the phone and it sounded like he was giving some “car mechanic advice”. Right away I knew it had to be one of the kids, and most likely by what I was hearing it had to be Gabe, calling from Idaho, or Zach (Zach was off at a cottage with friends).

It was Gabe.

He was on his way to Jackson Hole for dinner with his girlfriend (Shannon) his roommate (Jospeh – who by the way, is such a nice kid and makes me laugh so hard!) and another friend (I think it was a double date).

They were driving in Joseph’s really really really old Subaru Loyale Wagon.  This thing is old. When we were there last month, it had a mini break down, but Jospeh somehow salvaged it and had it up and running in no time. They often use it to boot around town.

But even I knew that this thing would be very risky to drive to Jackson Hole – (about 1.5 hours away).

I’m pretty sure that that they knew that too. But, hey! They are invincible!

So…. about 15 minutes outside Jackson the story unfolds about a little engine that thought it could, but couldn’t and chugged and chugged and eventually had to come to a standstill when they realized that it no longer had any BRAKES!!

Seriously.

So began the long, drawn out journey of trying to get the car fixed and get these kids home. I’m not sure I can write all the details as they were a bit confusing to me, but they involved: a lot of phone calls to Rob (who knew he knows so much about cars???), delivery of brake pads that don’t fit, trying to figure out how to change them on the side of the road, ripped pants, a helpful person named Angel (pretty ironic), a date that abandoned the scene, another kind roommate that came to the rescue, and a smart girlfriend who insisted they not get back in the car to head home (but rather drive back with the other roommate – although I’m happy Joseph made it back ok, under no condition was he to be driving anyone else with him!). I’m guessing that their day also involved a lot of prayers and I vaguely recall some bad food too….

While in the midst of all the phone calls, I told Rob to tell Gabe to take pictures! While it was a stressful situation, one day, they would look back and laugh and he’d be happy that he had documented it all! So here, is their day in pictures:

Home sweet home. We were quite relieved when he texted to say they were all home safe and sound. We were also happy to talk to him the next day and get the full blown details and see how it had already been turned into a great story and a great memory – and hopefully a great learning experience….