On our trip to Phoenix for Christmas we were unfortunate to break down. Our alternator decided to die. Considering it is only 1.5 years old we were surprised of course. The battery light came on in Moriarty (sp?) NM and my husband being a pretty decent mechanic knew what was going on. He pulled into a truck stop and asked where the nearest Auto Zone was because it was their part. The clerk told him that 7 miles up the road was the only one for miles. We thought how lucky could we be. So we proceed to drive there and actually made it to their parking lot. WOW how exciting that was! We thought. It was about 3 AM (our time, NM was a different time zone OH DEAR) and they open at 8. No sweat! I packed like they tell you to, blankets, water, flashlight etc. We were good to go. LOL My husband had seen some canned drinks in Walmart that you just pop the top and instantly they heat up. He thought how cool would they be for the trip, being cheap like I am I told him they were not a necessity. Come on they were 2 bucks a piece. By 4 AM I would have given my eye teeth for a hot drink. You dont think he mentioned that a few times during the night. LOL At that point I woulda spent alot more than 2 bucks for a hot drink. Off and on during the night he would start the car to heat it up until the battery finally just died. This was about 5 AM or so. We were in a very isolated area and there was ice on the ground from a previous snow storm. Everyone asks, "Did ya all get in the same seat and cuddle, you know use body heat to stay warm?" Well sadly enough no we didn't. I am thinking that he was so busy playing security guard to think otherwise. So he was in the drivers seat and I was in the seat behind him where I had made a bed for the trip. I had never heard that you should cuddle in the buff and it will keep you warmer. My reasoning is to put on more clothes not take them all off to stay warm.....HHHHMM whodanu? I guess I do now! Of course you know if we had done that the police would have been there in a minute. LOL The headlines would have read "Minister and his wife caught naked in the parking lot of auto store"! Not "Minister and his wife found half froze to death rescued in auto store parking lot"! Ok I am rambling. By 6 AM the ice is now forming on the inside of the windows of the car. We are literally starting to freeze to death. By 6:30 we are beginning to no longer get ourselves warm. On a serious note we were pretty sure that this was it. We thought for sure we would just fall asleep and not wake up. Not a bad thing for us but devastating for our loved ones left behind This was Christmas Eve afterall. My husband decides that he should really call 911 even if to just get a squad car out there to let us warm up. He dials the phone~the dispatcher answers the usual ways "911 what is your emergency?" He explains to her the situation and explains to him that this is a non-emergency and gave him the non-emergency number to call. First we think, WHAT? Not an emergency? He then proceeds to call the NON-EMERGENCY number, I kid you not the same lady answers the phone She then proceeds to tell him to hold on and tells him that we are actually in the jurisdiction of the Albuqurque Hiway Patrol! WHAT? They are about 35 miles from us by the time they could get there the store would be open and we were sure we would be dead. We throw our hands up and just pray for the store to open. By the time she gave us the run around we had just about an hour left. Oh the town we were in Edgewood NM. Anyway, my husband later thought maybe he should have told her to just go ahead and send the medical examiner to remove our bodies from the van. By God's grace the employees of Auto Zone showed up a few minutes early and proceeded to let us in took amazingly good care of us! One of the clerks was an EMT and shocked at the 911 operators reaction. But as far as the van goes the manager proceeded to take over and had us on the road by 10 AM. The treatment from the Auto Zone employees was such a blessing that the positive of that far superceded the negative treatment from the 911 operator. I am posting some pics I took that night of the inside windows of the van. As you can see the ice is on the inside as much as it was on the outside. The rest of the trip well it was absolutely amazing and we felt lucky to be around to enjoy them with our families. ~Til next time







As you can see on the side window I was able to take my finger and wipe the ice from the inside. The other two shots you can actually see the ice crystals forming from inside the van. Yep really glad to be around to tell the story!