My family used to go camping a lot. We’d go a couple times each summer and we occasionally went in the fall as well. Each camping trip brought with it its own disasters such as us burning all the food on the campfire and having to eat bread the whole trip, the car breaking down, and it snowing (in October). Nothing tops what happened the summer I was 11 or 12, though. In fact, this takes the cake for all of our vacation disasters.
My family always takes a lot of luggage with us when we go on vacation. We don’t ‘rough it’. Camping is no exception and we usually have even more luggage for that since we have to bring tents and sleeping bags. It was always interesting to fit all of this into the van along with six people. Our old van did not have a roof rack.
However, my dad discovered this storage unit that could be placed atop the roof of a car without a roof rack. It attached to the roof with these clips. My dad thought it was great and bought it. We loaded up the stuff into it and started the trip.
We made it to the highway without any trouble. After a few miles, we heard this clunking noise. Then I saw the straps from the storage unit dangling in front of my window, something they had not been doing seconds ago. My dad shouted, ‘What was that?’. My brother craned his neck around and replied, ‘It’s that roof rack thing!’ To which my dad replied, ‘What?’ Then my brother said, ‘It’s that little black dot all the way back there!’
My dad immediately pulled over. Thank goodness there were no cars behind us or it could have caused an accident. By another stroke of luck, the storage unit landed on the shoulder. My dad got out of the car and walked the mile back to where it had landed and proceeded to carry all the luggage back to the van, where we had to cram it in.
There was no room for the actual storage unit in the car, so my dad stowed it in the woods next to the highway. We then continued on to the campground, where we probably had a rainy campout (I don’t remember, but it usually rains when we camp).
After we went home, my dad drove back to where the storage unit had fallen off the van and dug it out of the woods. Then he brought it back to the store and got a refund. I can only imagine the look on the person’s face when my dad answered his or her question of ‘Why are you returning this?’ with ‘It fell off my car as we were driving down the highway.’
Filed under: Remember When?, the humor of life
Puahahaha… Somehow it seems there is never a dull moment with your family.
Oh man.
Every time I see a van or SUV with luggage on top, I always wondered what the people would do if it fell. 
From now on, when I see luggage on top of a car, I’ll think of you. 