With Much Tribulation.. (Our Journey to Montreal, Part 2)

If you remember we left off with Vernon and I praying we would get an early start. That prayer was very short lived. Needless to say we did not get an early start that morning. Don’t get me wrong, I care very deeply for Sonny and Meriam, and I have his permission to write this story, but it was very clear early on that this trip was not going to be a good one. Something was very wrong and we would soon find out how wrong this trip was.

Before we took off that late morning we found out Sonny had planned a stopover in Ohio to visit an old friend, a friend that brought him into the SDA Church over 20 years ago. Quite understandable, however we had to get to Canada and we were already behind schedule. Selflessly all I could think was, ‘We have to speak on Sabbath at the Filipino Church in Montreal.’ So we made our way on to Ohio.

The drive started out ok that morning. One thing about Sonny I need to note, he likes to drive fast. So you can imagine Vernon and me in that U-Haul with a heavy load behind us, trying to keep up. There were times we thought he had forgotten we were following him.

About 10 minutes after stopping for gas we notice Sonny was having trouble. We were not sure at first if something was wrong with the van or Sonny. Very quickly we realized it was Sonny. He was swaying all over the road, into traffic and onto the side of the road. Cars were stopping on the highway trying to avoid hitting Sonny.

Vernon started blowing the truck horn to alert him. We called their cell phone. Meriam answered and said he was dizzy. We were able to find a rest stop a little ways up the road and pulled in. We found out Sonny had taken a pain pill when we stopped for gas earlier. The thing is he knew that the pill made him sleepy. But just not sleepy it would knock him out for at least an hour. We still don’t understand why he took the pill knowing this happens to him. Vernon told him he could have killed himself, his wife and others on the highway. Vernon urged him not to do that again.

That day we got in 4.5 hours. We made a decision while Sonny slept not to try and go any further. We would look for a hotel for the night, and try to make up time the next day. Sonny was in no condition to go anywhere. Luckily there was a very nice hotel just up from the rest stop. We rested there for the night.

Needless to say we did not leave that next morning early. Sonny takes his pain pill at 6am, so we found out, and we had to wait until he slept it off. We finally were able to leave around 11:30am. It was just in enough time to meet up with his friend in Ohio. The visit was very nice and his friends, we all enjoyed, but the time we got out of there was 4:30pm.

By now it is Wednesday and I think Sonny is starting to feel the pinch of time left to get to Montreal. So Sonny said he could drive from that point on for 6 or 7 hours. We started on our way, but halfway into the drive Sonnies GPS died on him so he asked Vernon to lead. We drove for another 3 hours and it was getting late and we needed to find a hotel.

There was one thing that troubled me... If you know you can only drive 5-6 hours a day. Would it not make sense to plan your stop off points and book your hotel? Well that is not how Sonny and Meriam did it. Each night we would find a parking lot to park in and look for a hotel in the area to sleep for the night. So that is what we did. We pulled into a Burger King parking lot and looked for a hotel. Meriam did not want a hotel if it did not serve a continental breakfast. We finally found one. I was so glad to just get into a bed.

By now we are used to leaving late in the morning. We are just praying we can make some good time, because we have to make a stop in Burlington Vermont. Just 2.5 hours from the Canadian border. Sonny needed to get a P.O. Box on American soil. He has his reasons for that. So we really needed to make some good driving time.

Until next week for the more of the story... Part 3