NEVER AGAIN! (This time I mean it).

Omigosh.

We rented a Jeep liberty to drive to Utah because we got stuck in three blizzards last year and we didn't want to risk getting stuck in our corrolla again. The jeep was a fine ride TO Utah.

So, we decided to take two days to drive home instead of one because the one day from Kansas to Utah was very very hard on all of us. That meant giving up an extra day with my family, but we decided to go ahead and leave today. Henry rang in the New Year by throwing up two times in the middle of the night, so we got up a bit late. But, we got up, packed, etc etc and were on the road by noon.

Well, as we get on to the freeway, leaving SLC and heading towards I-80, Derek goes, "That's weird, the cruise control light won't turn off. I can turn the actual cruise control on and off, but the light stays on all the time. " Right then, the turn indicator light STOPPED working. Again, the turn indicator itself was working but the lights weren't. We just thought, "Oh, must be a broken fuse."

So, we get to The Little America Hotel/Gas station about 3 hours outside of SLC in Wyoming. We stop to use the bathroom and then hit the road again. We needed to get to Cheyenne tonight, which is a 7 hour drive from SLC.

So, when we go to turn off the car, it shuts off, but the lights in the dash stay on... even though the key was OUT of the ignition. We both think this is really stupid. So, we turn the car back on. Suddenly, the windshield wipers turn on, but they are in the "off" position. Also, the car thinks that is it in "drive" even though it is in "park" so we can't drive the stupid thing because it won't let us move the gear shift.

So, basically this darn rental car is possessed.

We call the Budget people. Apparently no one works on New Year's day. Then when we finally get someone, we're told we can NOT get the car fixed ourselves, and we had to have the Kansas City Budget manager's approval to do anything. He is on vacation and unavailable. In Wyoming, you can't pay for a tow truck over the phone, so the Budget corporate person can't send a tow truck to get us and we're not allowed to pay for it ourselves (they said they would 100% NOT reimburse us for any repairs we did without 'approval'). So, we finally get "permission" to leave the car in Little ameria and go to Rock Springs (an hour away) to get a new car. But, no one from Budget will come get us. We're stranded.

So, my dear brother-in-law drives to us from Utah, and takes us to Rock Springs to get our new rental car that is tiny. They tried to charge $60 for the daily rate instead of finishing out the $25 a day weekly rate, and the general manager asked us not to "raise hell." HA! We were COMPLETELY stranded for 5 hours until my brother in law came and rescued us! I've got TWO TINY KIDS! (Who, miracle of miracles, were WONDERFUL ALL DAY). I'm just so grateful that we got to Little America and weren't stranded on the side of the road somewhere in 7 degree weather.

We are now in the La Quinta Inn in Rock Springs and tomorrow, we have a 15 hour day to get home.

I am so ridiculously irritated. Budget in Kansas City is going to be getting quite the talking-to.

You know, last year, after getting stuck two different times in three different blizzards, I swore I was NEVER driving to Utah again, and yet, we did it again. So, I'm saying it again. NEVER AGAIN!

Happy Freaking New Year.