Eight people, two cars, 74 bags, 1 AirBnb and no dog. The caravan left on time at 7:30ish. It took careful planning to make this happen. First I told my two oldest that I would pick them up at 6:30 am. Then I could head back home gather up the rest of the gang so we could leave by 7:00. But I knew that wouldn’t happen . So I wanted to leave by 7:30, so a 7:00 leave time with the wife and younger three, might get us all on the road by 7:30. I made the pickups and got everyone on the road at 7:40. It was a win. The 10 minute delay might have been because I wanted Casey’s breakfast pizza. But that’s not important.

The caravan had smooth sailing the first two hours until a missed exit got us separated. Brenna called and I explained that it was our car that exited where she did not. Only slightly annoyed, she said she would figure it out and hung up quickly. I blame her three sleeping navigators. Nolan took over the driving for an hour until my third “suggestion” on his driving pushed him to the limit. He pulled over and said “nope! I’m done.” And got out of the drivers seat. Landen just laughed as I got back behind the wheel. I feel this is a dad thing and is common. But I have to accept my fate and keep driving. To make matters worse, Brenna and the kids honk and wave as they speed past and take the lead.

Through a series of bathroom stops and construction delays, Brenna was 30 minutes ahead of us in meeting my sister for lunch. Could have been the earlier rush I put on everyone or maybe she was just hungry, but her annoyance factor had moved up a bit. With eight people it’s impossible to avoid delays and unscheduled stops. That’s why I stop every two hours. She does not. Thats one of those subtle differences we have learned about each other. That’s also why we had to make an emergency stop at a strange little diner in the middle of no where. The entire town was the diner, a few mobile homes and an empty RV park. It was also surrounded by a giant scrap yard. It looked like something out of a horror movie. So much in fact that Landen decided to start yelling “Help!” from the back seat. It provided him the desired effect as locals began staring while I told him to shut up. Never know what’s next with that one.

We got to the AirBnb and there were no bugs this year. That’s a really good thing because that means I didn’t have to find a hotel to move us too in the middle of the night. But it also means that I don’t get to check out the breakfast buffet and it’s patrons. It’s still a win though so I looked for a new source people watching entertainment and I found it on Pikes Peak. So we decided to drive up the mountain all crammed in one vehicle. It was fun, made the summit and had a high altitude donut.

It was on the drive down where we got behind Hard Braking Herb.

This guy ignored every sign that said use a lower gear and don’t ride your brakes. He ignored the signs that said pull over and let others pass if you are holding up traffic. Hard Brake Herb became hairpin turn Herb. This yahoo would stomp his brakes and come to a stop as he creeped around every turn. People behind him had windows down waving him to get out of the way. Honking and lights flashing did nothing to enlighten this guy to get out of the way. Neither did the fact that 30 cars were back up behind him. I don’t honk or anything. I did pop my head out of the sunroof a few times and I might have used some colorful language.

Finally halfway down the mountain everyone stopped for a mandatory brake check with the park rangers. A point and shoot thermometer was used to check the temp of yours brakes. Anything over 300 degrees for you waved off to the side in the pump your brakes penalty box. Three cars ahead of me, multiple rangers crawled around Herb’s minivan. He was then waved to the penalty/dummy box. I passed easily with a 210 but I had to know how hot Herb’s brakes were. So whipped into a spot near Herb and started to get out to go ask. It was Brenna that brought me to my senses. “What are you doing? Everyone is going to think we are bad drivers with hot brakes too!” She yelled from the back seat. She was right. I quickly backed out of penalty box and headed back down the mountain. I still want to know how hot those brakes were but I couldn’t have strangers that I would never see again thinking I didn’t know how to drive down a mountain.

We continued to all laugh and joke at Herb’s expense while we found a lunch spot and ate. It was then God nudged us with a gentle reminder to be kind and maybe some assistance to Herb in keeping his brakes cool.

We will continue our vacation with more kindness to our fellow man.