The Dad gets to ride in an ambulance

August 14th was a hot and cloudless day in California. A perfect sand rash worthy beach day! But alas we were not headed to the beach- we started the day off with a 7:30am visit to the local U-Haul Center to pick up our 26 foot rented truck.

It is important to note that we have very heavy furniture and belongings and that the temps were steadily rising toward the day's high of 100+. Some of our more heavy pieces include- a refrigerator, a washer and dryer, treadmill, coca-cola machine, and a big Nautilus home gym thing. By noon we had all of that loaded on to the truck. Then came everything else we owned.

Have I mentioned yet that books are a major addiction for our family? Um yeah- so 6 large bookshelves full of books later...

At 3:30pm it back glaringly obvious that everything wouldn't fit in the 26 foot U-Haul truck. So back to the U-haul store to rent a 12 foot trailer to tow behind the U-haul. 4 hours later the truck and trailer were finally fully packed.

I loaded the bucket of fish, the cat and the 2 dogs into the Volvo while the Dad and the Boy buckled themselves into the U-haul truck. Our plan was to drive the 30 minutes to my parents house in Palm Springs to spend the night. Dear old Mom and Dad were flying in the next morning and Dad was going to help us drive the U-haul back to Minnesota.

Approximately 2 miles into our 30 mile trip I noticed the Boys were not behind me. As I was making a u-turn my cell phone started ringing. I couldn't reach it as it was somewhere under the fish and the cat.

I back tracked about half a mile and found the truck on the side of the road and a crowd of people and parked cars. My first thought was "if that idiot hit a car with that truck I am going to be so pissed because I just declined U-hauls 'extra' insurance coverage". I feel guilty now for thinking that because the sight I saw is one I won't soon forget.

I parked my car and hurried up to the crowd only to find the Dad laying face down in the street with a growing puddle of blood around his head and the Boy no where to be seen.

Turns out the Dad had become severely dehydrated over the course of the day and as he was driving the U-haul started to become short of breath. He had the idea that if he pulled over to the side of the road and got some fresh air he would feel better. His idea worked in theory right up until he decided to get out of the truck. As his foot tried to find the steps down from the cab of the truck every muscle in his body seized up (due to the dehydration). As his arms refused to work to break his fall he fell face first from the cab to the pavement. The growing puddle of blood was from the broken nose, chipped teeth and busted open lips and chin.

The Boy was safely in the truck, he realized that it would be safer for him in the truck that on the street. My brave boy was the one that was trying to call me to tell me what had happened. Fortunately someone had already called 911 by the time I got there.

Some very nice, and handsome I might add, fire and rescue men showed up. They accessed the situation, loaded the Dad up into the ambulance and kindly moved the U-haul off the busy street we were on.

I re-arranged the fish and cat to make room for the Boy and followed the ambulance to the Hospital.