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The trip from Salt Lake to Boise last night made me cry - quite literally! After we had been driving for around an hour and a half, Spenser pulled over at a gas station to get a drink. I jumped in the driver's seat and neither of us thought too much about the gas. After we had been driving for a while I looked down to see what was in the tank. It was reading that we still had around 150 miles until empty and it was around 170 miles to Boise. I just figured that we would pull over in a while and get some. We drove and drove and there weren't a lot of gas stations. With 24 miles still in the tank I pulled off in a little town to top us up. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the gas station and I'm not sure that it would have been open even if we had. It was 19 miles to Mountain Home and I figured that we were cutting it pretty close, but that we would probably be OK.

As I got back onto the freeway we started to climb uphill and the wind was blowing at about 100 miles an hour. I am sure to be exaggerating that, but it sure felt like it. Our gas meter went from saying we had 24 miles left to 16 miles within about a 2 mile stretch. I looked at Spenser in despair and told him that we would never make it. All I could think about was being left stranded on the side of a dark Idaho freeway while my husband left me with 3 kids in the back to go and find us some gas. I told him that he had to do something. He called 911 and asked how far it was to a gas station. They said that it was about 7 miles. I wouldn't look at the gauge, but Spense told me later that it was reading 4 miles. I drove at around 55 mph the rest of the way with shaking legs, a trembling lip, and hyperventilating as we went. I used to think that I would be good in a stressful situation, but now I'm not so sure!

We finally saw some lights and I had some hope, maybe we would make it after all. I just kept praying, "Please Heavenly Father, just let us get there." Spenser was thinking about where his running shoes were and how fast he could make the last couple of miles to and from the car. I was grateful to think that he's back into running! We finally rolled into the Chevron and as one final test Spenser said, "The gas is 10 cents cheaper across the street." I flat out told him that we were not going anywhere. The gas gauge read 0 mph and had for a few miles, but we were safe. I climbed out of the drivers seat because my shaking legs could drive us no further. When the gas was pumped we sat together and offered a word of prayer thanking Heavenly Father for his watchful care, even though we hadn't been as prepared as we might have been. Never will I let the gas get that empty!

We finally pulled into Boise at around 1:30 am and got the kids quickly transferred into the hotel room. After a good Hampton Inn breakfast we were back on the road this morning. The drive went pretty well all in all and seemed to go much quicker than on the way there. Maybe I can still dream of my Suburban guzzling gas as we explore these United States!

Since we didn't bring pillows I picked up these travel pillows

as we left Salt Lake. Everyone seemed to enjoy them!