That One Time our Airplane Ran Out of Gas

So once upon a time, there was a family of four. In May, they visited extended family in Albuquerque, NM for a short, but fun-filled med school graduation weekend.

And it was a fun-filled weekend. There were parties, fancy (childless! Praise Jesus!) dinners, family, and lots of kids under the age of five stampeding around the 5th floor of the Embassy Suites-ABQ. (For the record, it’s the hotel’s own fault for having each floor be open balconies. How can you blame wild honey badgers when it’s SO MUCH FUN to be able to see your parents yell at you from ACROSS the other side of the hotel?)

We arrived in Albuquerque with zero issues, despite multiple layovers, an impatient, whiney 5 year old and a honey badger.

Oh, some of our bags never left the MEMPHIS airport. (But DETAILS…)

We were set to come home on Mother’s Day (of course).

Except we didn’t.

Here’s how it all went down…

Sunday at 1:30AM: (AM!! For the love…)

Here was the weather radar for Mother’s Day, 2015.

Quite the storms across the country. *side eye*
(Okay, okay… in all fairness, our flight was originating in Denver. But whatever.)

So we rescheduled our flight for Monday morning and checked out of our hotel and into another one.

Monday at 1:59AM & 5:23AM: (What is it with the middle of the night texts??)

After waiting all morning, we eventually left Albuquerque and headed for Houston.

We knew we’d still be okay to make our connecting flight. Because, well…

So off to Houston we went.

And went…

And went…

Long after the allotted flight time, the captain came on and let us know we had been circling Houston for a while, but were not permitted to land due to weather.

Oh, and we had RUN OUT OF GAS.
(I guess that really happens in real life.)

So they REROUTED us to San Antonio (because that makes sense on an empty tank).

We started crunching time scenarios, thinking we could maaaayyybe make it back to Houston and make our 2nd flight.

Then…

I’ll have you know, we did end up making it home that week. But only after 3 days of United Airlines texts messages, 3 different hotel rooms, and 3 new pairs of underwear from a Houston-area Target.

Moral of the Story:
The Funstons will be driving everywhere from now on.

Like today.

This afternoon we will be in the car driving to Colorado.

COLORADO.

FROM TENNESSEE.

This is the level of travel desperation my family has resorted to and I’m praying to Jesus we live through the 18+ hours locked in a car together.

I have Mother Nature and United Airlines to thank for all of this. My praying friends, please lift us up in regards to our sanity. And that I don’t see a 4.5 hour United Airlines flight at an easy cruising altitude just above us on our 18 hour drive.