No brakes? No problem for family

Family visits are always fun, especially in my clan. No matter the circumstances, we try to make certain food and, at times spirits are involved.

Various events have kept me from being able to see some of my tribe for nearly two years, and they’re some of the ones who live closest.

My grandniece, Rachel Horton Lenk, her husband, Brian, and their three children, Alex, Brady and Alena, were traveling from Wentzville to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for vacation. Sweet Brian suggested stopping in Poplar Bluff for lunch with me.

They apologized for springing it on me at the last minute. I reminded them I work at a newspaper, and I’m used to things happening at the last minute.

Since they were pulling a rather large camper, I suggested they pick the restaurant. I mentioned a few places, but told them to Google the area for ideas. It’s been a while since they’ve been to town, so I wanted them to check out the opportunities available.

There are a couple of restaurants in town to which they don’t need directions, but decided since they were pulling a camper to dine at the edge of town.

Prior to heading to the office, I received a note on messenger from grandniece, “FYI, we are experiencing some technical difficulties this morning and running behind. I’ll let you know as we get close but it will definitely be later than I originally thought.”

My reply, “Not a problem. I hope it is nothing major.”

I was thinking technical difficulties, probably someone’s alarm clock didn’t go off.

Next, was a 26-second video chat of which I could hear, “I’m going 270 and saw nothing.”

THEN came the response to my question, “just the brakes, not important at all, right, LOL.”

Followed by, “We should be in Poplar Bluff around 1.”

My response was “hopefully, with good brakes!”

“Well, we have brakes just not the extra brakes.”
My interest is now piqued! I’ve never heard of extra brakes, but I’m not mechanical, and Brian is always doing things with their vehicles.

There are five in their family and only one who is not old enough to drive. He gets a lot of practice doing repairs. So, just maybe, he’s installed extra brakes, but I really think I’d have heard of extra brakes.

At 10 minutes out, they messaged and said they’d meet me at the restaurant. The next message “had to stop for gas first when we hit town. We were coasting in on fumes.”

Well, I had to think about the phrase “hitting town,” but it was followed by coasting. Maybe everything is OK.

Beat them to the restaurant and was watching as a truck pulling a camper bigger than my first home came into view. Well, my first house was a mobile home.

They located a place to park and out poured my family.

Explaining to a nervous aunt, they said, the truck has new brakes, but while having work done on the vehicle, the gas tank had to be dropped. Somehow a wire connecting the truck to the trailer possibly came loose.

“So, you have no brakes on the trailer?”

“Yes, we have brakes on the trailer, they are not correctly connected to the truck.”

Once they arrived in Hot Springs, I asked “hopefully, the brakes will get repaired before you start home?”

Response, “Yep, all good and the brakes did fine. They seem to work sometimes and not others, so it has to be a bad connection somewhere. He’ll probably get it figured out at some point this weekend.”

PROBABLY!

“If you have time, we’ll see you for lunch on the way home.”

That would have been an interesting meal, but they overslept, and I had two election stories to write. They made it back to Wentzville safely.

Think they really overslept or they just didn’t want to explain why the brakes were still “extra?”

Barbara Horton is a staff writer at the Daily American Republic and can be reached at bhorton.dar@gmail.com.