I am a horrific blogger these days... oh well. I realized that I never got around to blogging my return trip experience from Christmas break. So let me set the scene for you. My family and I were in sunny Southern California for 6 weeks while all of our friends and neighbors were suffering through another South Dakota winter. So this is karmic justice I suppose. By now, the challenges of flying halfway across the country with two boys under 5 are old hat. Even managing them with 7 pieces of luggage and 6 carry-ons is not that big a deal. (I'll also note that we shipped 7 large boxes as well- Christmas is crazy eh?). So, we land in Omaha on time... which actually was a victory considering we were stuck in Omaha for fours hours one time waiting to head out to CA. We get the boys off the plane, grab all the luggage and stake out a nice spot by the window for Rachel and the boys to wait for me. I hope on the shuttle and head out to long term parking to pick up our car. I should have known it would be bad when it took 5 minutes just to find the car in the parking lot. I jumped out of the shuttle, and grabbed the driver's snow shovel and started digging. After a couple minutes, I found I could get to the car door and jumped into it. For those that don't know, I own a 1993 Ford Explorer with nearly 200,000 miles on it. It has been sitting for six weeks now, and the outside temperature is roughly 5 degrees. I stick the key into the ignition and turn. Now, it isn't what you might expect it to be- just a completely dead battery. No, instead it cranks and cranks and cranks and cranks. Every few seconds there is a slight hiccup where it sounds like it is going to catch and fire up.... but no luck. I get the shuttle driver to call me a jump from the parking lot service truck. Meanwhile I keep on digging out the car while I await him. I call the wife and let her know that the car isn't starting, but I am feeling like with just a little extra juice it surely will. After 10 min, I finish the digging and the truck shows up. He hooks up the cables and we wait a few minutes for him to charge the battery. I jump in and crank it again. It sounds like it wants to start, but it doesn't. I crank again, and it sounds like it really is going to start... but still nothing. I try again and again and again... then I wait about 10 min for it to charge up. Still nothing. After doing this for about 45 min, the truck driver tells me that he has a call to jump someone else. I get him to let me try one more time... and still nothing. So, I tell him to go jump the other car and come back and we'll just let it charge for a bit without any cranking. He says he'll head back, but is not sure how long it will take. So he leaves and I call Rachel with the update. At this point, we are nearing two hours post landing and mind you my poor wife is stuck at that window seat with our boys. She literally cannot go anywhere because of our 13 pieces of luggage... After roughly 20 min of waiting, I decide to come up with another plan. So I catch the shuttle again and head back to the airport. I grab 10/13 pieces of luggage and get back on the shuttle. I load up our car and now at least my wife is free to roam with the boys. I get back on the shuttle to head back to the airport. While getting off the shuttle I notice the service truck driver getting onto it. I ask him if he came back for me while I was gone, and he just looks at me like he has no idea not only who I am- but also has no idea what I am talking about. Apparently, he had no plans of ever coming back for me. So, I continue with my plan and jump in a cab. Where to? A parts store of course. The cab driver drives me 10 miles to the "closest" parts store. With the meter running, I go in and grab a half inch wrench, a 10mm wrench and a flash light. I then head to the counter and wait patiently in line trying to not think about the dollars leaving my pocket as I wait. I finally get to the counter and ask for a battery. Luckily, there is ONE more left that will work in my car. I jump in the cab and head back to the parking lot. So, $150 later I pop the hood and start taking out the old battery. Battery terminals come off no problem. Then I reach down to the base of the battery to unscrew the bracket holding the battery down. Turns out, it is not a 10mm. Thankfully, I had the foresight to also by a crescent wrench (that is one of those adjustable wrenches for all you tool illiterate folks). I set it to the correct size and start turning. First 10 turns, no problem. This thing is coming out in another minute or two... right? NO! Suddenly the bolt gets tight. I try to pull the battery out. No go. So I unscrew it a bit more. It is so tight though that I can only to 1/4 turn at a time and it is taking a lot of hand strength to do it. Mind you, it is now dark and the temperature has dropped below 0 at this point. I do not have gloves on and I am wearing dress shoes while standing in a foot of snow. So after about 10 min of turning this one stupid screw I really start getting scared. What if this bolt is stripped and just stuck? What if I am just turning it but it is not coming out? Did I really just drop all that money for nothing and now am going to have to get a cab to stay in an Omaha hotel with two young boys? NO! I keep at it, ignoring the ringing of my phone- knowing it is my poor wife desperate for an update. Finally, it just feels like the screw just will not turn anymore. So I give the battery a strong yank... and it pops out! I was sooooo relieved. I get the new battery in and hooked up and jump in the car. Key in the ignition, and I turn... and nothing. Car still will not start. I try again. Nope. It is still cranking but just will not turn over. This is where I nearly start to cry. And then I decide that this damn car is going to start. So I turn the key and just hold it down for like a full minute. I keep thinking, this is a brand new battery it is not going to die on me. The engine just needs to warm up a bit and it will catch. So I just keep holding the key down and psychically will the car to start... and it DOES! I cannot tell you how happy I was. Finally!!! This ended up being 4 hours after we landed- luckily we landed at 2pm and not at 7pm! So I head out and get to the booth. It is then that I realize despite me having nearly all of the luggage, I do not have my bag with the parking coupon. Normally at this point I would just saw screw it, but since we were gone for 6 weeks- this ends up being an $80 coupon! So, I tell the lady in the booth that I have a coupon and I promise that I'll bring it back from the airport. She says that she has to attach the coupon to their copy and she just cannot give me the discounted price without it. I think fast and ask if it is ok if I just leave my credit card with them so they can be assured that I will return. She agrees, and I am on my way to the airport. I pull up to the terminal, but am not certain where Rachel is since she is not bringing the boys out in the -5 temps. I get to the end of the terminal when my phone rings and Rachel tells me that I passed her. So, I tell her I am waiting at the end for her. Now at nearly every other airport I have been to- the nazi airport police would chase me off for stopping longer than 10 seconds. Yet this never happens in Omaha... until that night of course. The officer motions me to move out, and I get outside of my car and tell him that my wife is coming out of the doors 100 yards away. He looks briefly, says "I don't see anybody", and then pulls out his ticket book! I say "she is right there!" He tells me if I don't move my car immediately, he is going to write me a ticket. I again insist that I can see her and he opens his book and starts to write me a ticket! So I say "OK OK!" and jump in my car for a lap around the airport. Rachel calls me again asking why I am driving away, I explain and then loop around. While doing the loop I flip on the windshield wipers... but no response. Oh well. I get the bags in the back, install the car seats, load up the boys in full winter gear. Poor kids were just in 65 degree CA weather. We pull away and am feeling great to have made it. Now just the 2 hour commute home! After about 10 min, I realize that the car is just not getting warm. The windshield wipers at least fired up now. I pull over to check the radiator. Of course I get drenched in radiator fluid since the system was pressurized, and try to add some water... but it is full. So I jump back in the car and we drive home in -10 degree temps without a heater. They boys are fully bundled up. Rachel puts their gloves and hats on and we just shiver for the next couple hours. I suppose the positive was that when we returned home our 50 degree house seemed warm to us! So there you go, my intense return trip from Omaha. A day or two later the thermostat unfroze and the car started warming up and the heater works fine now. Intense. I have had some intense experiences in travelling, but this one (I hope) goes down as the most harrowing.