I think it's fair to say that this is about the time when the real adventure started to take place. So please excuse the story-telling, but I just have to share...
The night before we left from my mom and Al's house I received an email message from my Aunt Kathy (where we were staying the next night) that they had spent the night before hiding out in their house because there were fugitives hanging out in the woods behind their house. Their home was surrounded by the police who were looking for these two fugitives and their girlfriends who apparently decided to join in on the fun. She mentioned hearing a helicopter flying over their house. Interesting. I assumed the police caught the fugitives. End of story. Not!
We left my mom's house the next morning (October 3rd) and drove to Flint to meet my friend Carrie for lunch.
Carrie and I
We timed our travel so Jeralyn would nap in the car. We left flint around 1:00 and arrived in Dorr, MI around 3:00. During our travel in the car, I was texting with my mom about possibly visiting my grandma when we arrived in Dorr since we wouldn't be able to go to my Aunt Kathy's house until 4:15 when my Uncle Tony would be home from work. My mom mentioned that my grandma said it was raining and something about the police saying to stay inside. Now, I'm from Southeast Alaska where it RAINS so I thought, "these Midwesterners are so wimpy when it comes to the rain! Now the police are telling them to stay inside when it rains?" I was not thinking about the real reason: fugitives. I asked my mom, "Is it raining so hard there that it's flooding?" Sorry, but when you live in a climate where you get 14 FEET of precipitation annually, you tend to not have much pity when people complain about the rain.
I thought we would just go directly to my Aunt Kathy's and play in their yard until Uncle Tony would come home, but then my mom suggested we could visit with my Aunt Sue. I thought that was a perfect suggestion! When we exited the highway into Dorr, I called Aunt Sue. The phone rang and rang. I almost hung up, but then she answered. She had just come home from the grocery store and was unloading her groceries. I asked if we could stop by for a bit and she said yes. We stopped by the grocery store to grab a few items and then we went to her house. We visited for about 20 minutes and then I heard my phone vibrating with an incoming call. It was my Aunt Kathy. The first thing she said was, "You cannot go to my house." I laughed a nervous laugh. She said, "It's not funny! The fugitives are in our woods and the police have surrounded the area. You will have to stay somewhere else tonight." So after I made some phone calls we were headed to my Aunt LouAnn's where we would be staying the night. We had a dinner date at my cousin Amanda's house that evening, so we needed to get Jeralyn's tent crib set up before we headed over to Amanda's. All of this was much too exciting for us! Ha!
When we were at Amanda's house we watched a news report on TV and my Uncle Tony was on there reporting that their car was stolen by the fugitives. What??!!! So here's what happened...
At the same time we would have been at their house, the fugitives and their girlfriends broke into my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Tony's house, searched their house for the spare car keys, took food, and stole their car (which had a full tank of gas thanks to my aunt who filled it up the day before). We would have been playing in their yard at the exact time this all happened if it wasn't for my mom suggesting we go to my Aunt Sue's. Whoa! And the only reason these fugitives had food to steal was because it was food for an open house get together we were having at their house the next day for US! It was so crazy!!!
My cousin Nicki, Grace, cousin Amanda, me, and Jeralyn after dinner. It was so great to see all of them! Grace is a few months older than Jeralyn so it was fun to watch them interact. My Uncle Dan and Aunt Denise were there too.
Jeralyn enjoying some Cheerios for breakfast the next morning at Aunt LouAnn's house.
After all of the excitement we decided to go ahead with the open house at my aunt and uncle's house. Family came and went throughout the day. It was so wonderful to see all of them. It had been a few years since I had seen most of them.
My cousin Alena and her son Owen came for a quick visit.
Aunt Barb
Jeralyn and I with my grandma.
Jeralyn and I with Aunt Sue. xoxo
Later that day my cousin Patrick came with his son Liam. I hadn't seen Patrick in a long, long time!
My cousin Gayle came with her husband and kids. She's like my dark-haired twin. A lot of people think we look alike.
And here are the famous I-had-fugitives-break-into-my-house-and-steal-my-car aunt and uncle. I'm so thankful for them and that they are safe. It could have been a lot worse. They were able to joke about it even hours after it happened. Whew! I miss them already!
This concludes our visit to the famous, small farming-town of Dorr, Michigan. Next time we come let's not have so much excitement. Ha!
Oh, and they found their stolen car the next day in a Kroger parking lot in Indiana. And about 10 days after all of this police found the fugitives cooking the drug meth in a hotel room in Colorado. I just shake my head. It's a sad, sad story.
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