Very eventful trip

Ok, so when you're planning on taking your first child to college, it is an emotional time. You don't want to see him leave the nest, but you're excited to see him start his life's journey. But, if I was granted a do over with taking Zakk to college yesterday, I would have gladly taken it!!

To start this wonderful odyssey, we need to begin in Ely on the morning of August 18. We're packing the car with Zakk's stuff, and he realizes his TV won't fit. He starts freaking out, until I remind him that his buddy Dylan is coming up the next day and can bring it. Ok, first crisis averted.

Then, we're all packed up and ready to go. Zakk decides that he's gonna drive which is ok by me. We start on the trip and we come to a mountain pass that we have to climb. This pass is called Conner's Pass and it's pretty steep. But, our car is just creeping up the hill. We lose so much speed, that we decide to turn around and go the other way without the mountain passes. Zakk is so frustrated that he decides to let Steve drive. We drive towards Wendover, the car overheats a little on the passes, but we keep pushing on. We stopped in Wendover to eat and gas up - which we normally NEVER have to do on this trip. After we eat, Zakk decides to drive again. So, we start driving. And guess what?

We get about five miles outside of Tooele, Utah and the car loses power. Zakk is even more frustrated and gets out to take a small walk to calm down. I don't blame him - he just wants to get to school and settled before the semester starts on Monday. Steve gets in the driver's seat and tries to start the car and there is this horrendous squealing sound. He just wants to get the car off the interstate, so we creep the five miles to the Flying J truckstop. Our max speed on this little five mile trip - 10 mph. Ugh!

We try to call my sister, and she isn't there. So, Steve called his sister. She tells us that she'll come and get us and take us to Steve's parents house. They have an extra car that we can use. So, we creep into the travel lodge and await her arrival which is an hour later. No big deal, it gives everyone the chance to calm down, go potty, get drinks and snacks etc.

Steve's sister and husband arrive and we get safely to Spanish Fork. We all crash from the ordeal. The next morning, we get up, do a few things and load up the car. Oh, did I mention that Steve's parents are on vacation? LOL We get on the road and go to see my sister. We spend about an hour there visiting with her and her children and then we get on the road.

This part of the trip is minimal. Zakk makes the comment that he hopes Grandma and Grandpa's car won't break down and I laugh. I told him that if he needed to know anything about Grandpa Moore it's that he was VERY good about keeping up on the maintenance of his cars. We get to Weber State University and pull in to park so that we can get Zakk settled into his dorm and voila - we see the red and blue lights flash us. Oh man!

The WSU campus cop walks up and informs Steve that he pulled us over because the registration is expired on the car! WTH! So, we look through the glove compartment and guess what? No current registration AND the proof of insurance was two years old! WTH. Steve tells the officer that it wasn't his car, it was his dad's and that we had car trouble and we borrowed his parents car to get our son to school. He lets us off with a warning. Another crisis averted, for a few minutes.

Ok, we get Zakk registered in the dorm and get his keys, so we drive around to the back to start to unload when guess what happens next? Smoke starts coming out from under the hood of the car. Steve pops the hood and sees that a tube from the reservoir to the radiator has exploded and that the smoke was actually the coolant leaking onto the engine. Geez! As luck would have it, a friend from where we live was dropping her daughter off at the dorms, and she offered to take us to the parts store to get the part we needed to fix the car.

Steve gets the part fixed, and puts more coolant in the car, and Zakk gets settled into his dorm. Well, then Zakk comes down pretty upset. I ask him what was the problem? He informed me that he left his keyboard to his computer at home. Well, this was an easy fix! We took him to Staples to get a replacement and to Target to get some incidental stuff like shampoo, soap, razors, etc. After the small little shopping spree, we take him back to the dorms.

Now, this is the sad part. I had to leave my baby boy there. That was SO hard for me. I just held onto him crying and he's telling me not to embarrass him. LOL But, after all the drama, hugs, and tears of this trip - I watched my little boy, who was always my shadow when he was little, walk into his college dorm. I was filled with sadness because I realized at that moment that he was no longer my little boy. He was a man heading off to start his adult life as a college student. Never again would I wake up in the mornings and have him come into my room and snuggle with me and ask me if we can get donuts for breakfast. I will miss those cherished days of having him in our home.

It hasn't even been 24 hours, and I feel like it's been longer. I miss him like crazy, but that will make future trips to Utah even sweeter.