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I was worried they might've already left the park, so I ran to the front gate. And sure enough, the purple van was pulling away. I KNEW that family was bad news from the beginning, but I never thought they were capable of THEFT. Dad used the phone at the front desk to call the police, but the cops said that without a license plate number it would be really hard to track down our stolen stuff.

我担心他们可能已经离开公园了，所以我跑到前门。 果然，那辆紫色货车开走了。 我从一开始就知道家人是个坏消息，但我从没想过他们会偷东西。 爸爸用前台的电话报了警，但警察说没有车牌号码就很难找到我们被偷的东西。

If there was any GOOD news about our situation, it was that the key to the van wasn't in the locker, because it was back at the mechanic's. So we walked to the auto repair shop, where the mechanic was getting ready to put in a new radiator. He told Dad it was gonna cost almost three hundred dollars, but Dad told him he couldn't pay because his wallet just got stolen. Dad told the mechanic he'd mail him a check the second we got home, but the guy said he couldn't take an "I.O.U." He said what he COULD do was put some sealant on the busted radiator, which would last a day or two before it wore off.

如果说我们的情况有什么好消息的话，那就是货车的钥匙不在储物柜里，因为它在修理工那里。 于是我们走到汽车修理店，那里的机械师正准备装一个新的散热器。 他告诉爸爸要花将近300美元，但爸爸告诉他他付不起，因为他的钱包刚被偷了。 爸爸告诉修理工我们一到家就给他寄张支票，但修理工说他不能收欠条 他说他能做的就是在破裂的散热器上涂上一些密封剂，这种密封剂可以维持一两天。

But the mechanic said we'd have to run the heater inside the van at full blast to keep the engine from overheating. He said it might sound crazy, but it actually works. Mom and Dad talked it over and decided we should just drive the van all the way home. We didn't have any money or a phone, but we DID have a full tank of gas. Dad figured if we drove straight through, we'd get back at about 3:00 in the morning. Mom seemed pretty sad the trip was getting cut short, but to be honest, I was kind of relieved. When we got in the van, Dad turned up the heat just like the mechanic told him to, and within about thirty seconds it was a hundred degrees inside the car.

但机修工说我们得把车里的加热器开到最大才能防止引擎过热。 他说这听起来很疯狂，但确实有效。 妈妈和爸爸商量了一下，决定我们应该一路开着货车回家。 我们没有钱，也没有电话，但我们确实有一箱满油。 爸爸想如果我们直接开过去，凌晨三点左右就能回来。 妈妈似乎很难过旅行被缩短了，但说实话，我倒是松了一口气。 我们上了车后，爸爸按照机械师的吩咐把暖气调高了，不到30秒，车里就升到了华氏100度。

Mom opened all the windows up front, but it was like a FURNACE where I was sitting, since the windows back there don't open. I told Mom I didn't think I could make it all the way home without dying of heatstroke, but she said I'd be fine as long as I stayed hydrated. Then she got two cases of water out of the boat and brought them into the van.

妈妈把前面的窗户都打开了，但我坐的地方像火炉一样热，因为后面的窗户打不开。 我告诉妈妈，我觉得我不可能在回家的路上不中暑而死，但她说只要我保持水分就不会有事。 然后，她从船上拿了两箱水，并把它们带到货车上。

We headed out onto the highway, and I went through four bottles of water in the first hour. I tried to fall asleep to make the trip go faster, but I got woken up when somebody started honking their horn. The people in the car next to us were waving their arms and trying to get our attention. When I looked behind us, I was surprised to see that the tarp on the boat was loose and flapping around in the wind. And everything INSIDE the boat was flying OUT.

我们驶上高速公路，我在第一个小时里喝了四瓶水。 我试着睡着，好让旅程过得快一点，但有人开始按喇叭，把我吵醒了。 我们旁边车里的人挥舞着手臂，试图引起我们的注意。 当我回头看时，我惊讶地发现船上的防水布松动了，在风中拍打着。 船上的东西都飞了出来。

Cars were swerving left and right trying to avoid our stuff flying through the air. By now, Dad had seen what was going on in the rearview mirror, and he pulled over to the side of the road. We spent the next two hours walking down the highway trying to recover all of our stuff. But we had to give up when it got dark.

汽车左转右转，试图避开我们在空中飞来飞去的东西。 这时，爸爸已经从后视镜里看到了发生的事情，他把车停在了路边。 接下来的两个小时，我们沿着高速公路走着，试图找回我们所有的东西。 但天黑时我们不得不放弃。