We found out that for Winter Solstice on Dec. 21st, the gates surrounding Stonehenge are opened and visitors can actually touch the stones. It's a druid holiday, so there are some strange characters, chanting, and interesting rituals, but we thought it would be a really interesting cultural experience, so we began to research it and made a plan to drive there for the event. Some Google searches informed us that the event actually took place on the Tuesday, Dec. 22nd during the first sunrise of the Winter Solstice, so we had planned to drive to Bath and stay over night at RAF Fairford, a military base nearby Stonehenge, and then wake up early enough to drive over to the stones for sunrise... but instead we ended up waking up at 2am, packing up Tyler's truck (because the van wouldn't start), and heading off for a 3-hour drive to Stonehenge on Tuesday morning. We had to stop at RAF Mildenhall first and fill up the gas tank and purchase a new GPS (since ours was stolen last month) so that we wouldn't get lost. After filling up the tank, Tyler came into the 24-hour convenience store almost in tears and informed Cindy that he had mistakenly filled up his gas tank with Petrol instead of Diesel... a very, very, very bad thing. We were not able to drive the truck or tow the truck because it was not even 5am yet, and nothing would be open. We sat in the truck trying to figure out what to do and realized that no matter what happened, we wouldn't make it to the Winter Solstice event at Stonehenge. It was very frustrating and very unfortunate... but we were stuck. We huddled in the truck until about 6am and then got the kids dressed and started to scout out some breakfast. The convenience store had donuts and hot cocoa and a DVD playing, so we ate breakfast and watched a movie until about 7am, then headed over to the Roadhouse restaurant for "real" breakfast. By 8am the Auto Hobby shop was open and Tyler made some calls and found out that we would have to push or tow the truck to the shop (about 8 blocks away) and then drain all the fuel from the gas tank and replace it with Diesel... a very daunting task it seemed. Then we had the idea to call the Missionaries, Elder Hatch and Elder Froebel, and see if they could help us out and they were very willing and able. Tyler and Mason walked outside the base gate where the Missionaries picked them up and then were able to get passes for them to come onto base. They hooked up the truck to their little European car with a rope and towed it to the garage. Tyler drained the 25 gallons of Petrol into four large gas cans while the Missionaries decided to change the oil and filters. Then they drove to the gas station and filled up a gas can with Diesel to put into the truck. Once that was done it was after 1pm they were able to drive the truck and pick up Cindy and the kids, who had been busily playing at the Community Center and shopping at the toy store. They bought lunch for the Missionaries at Taco Bell, which was a real treat for them, and laughed about the sorry chain of events that had taken up most of the day. Without the help from the Missionaries, we would have spent over $500 fixing that little mistake. Tyler saved the Petrol and will put it into Cindy's van once we get it started, so no money was lost. Thank goodness for willing, Christ-like young men who are willing to help out their fellow men. As for Stonehenge... we'll try again next year, or maybe we'll brave the crowds and go to Summer Solstice.
