If you've read this blog for any amount of time you know I usually provide information on our accommodations when we travel. While I loved the property we stayed in while visiting North Carolina this past weekend, and even took lots of pictures when we arrived just so I could share them here, our departure makes me think it is prudent not to reveal too much about our location.
You know, for liability purposes.
I'm unsure whether I now think it's a funny story or if I'm still discomfited by it.
It all started shortly after 3 am on Sunday when I awoke to an odd smell. At first I tried to convince myself that it was nothing or that the smell must have been present all along. After about 10 minutes I got up to investigate. No matter where I went in the house, the smell lingered in the air.
I went back to the bedroom wondering what it could be and began to get an uneasy feeling. It dawned on me that the heat could be powered by natural gas, and I grew even more uncomfortable. It was at this point I woke up Matt.
Now would be a good time to point out that Matt has a poor sense of smell. By poor I mean it is essentially nonexistent. I've often teased him that he better hope he's somewhere with someone that has a nose to alert him if a fire ever breaks out becaue, if not, he has no chance.
Anyway, he couldn't smell it. When I told him I was worried it could be gas, he remarked that the gas fireplace pilot light was no longer on. I asked him what that could mean and he said he didn't know. He saw it was off before going to bed, and it stood out to him because it had been on the day before, but at the time he thought nothing of it.
I told him I was worried it WAS gas because it was a very strong smell, and that we should at least open the windows. Once we did that he informed me he was going back to bed.
I got in the bed as well, but five minutes later I was shaking him awake again saying that I didn't think we should stay in the place any longer. I really thought the smell was gas.
Frustrated and more than slightly irritated, he got up again. Jack, hearing us talk, woke up as well. After a few minutes Matt asked him if he had done anything to the fireplace.
And this is when we knew for sure the smell was gas.
Jack, seeing the blue flame coming from the fireplace, said he thought it might catch the house on fire, so he blew it out earlier in the day. How much earlier we have no clue. It could have been 7 hours. It could have been 15. So, for however long it was, gas was seeping from the fireplace.
Panic took hold of me.
Matt felt that because the windows were open and that by then he had cut the fireplace off, it would be fine to go back to sleep. I, on the other hand, said I wasn't staying in the house for one more minute. I promplty woke up Mattie and took she and Jack to the car right away. Matt began packing up our stuff and by 4:30 we were on the road home.
For the first hour we were traveling on pitch dark, winding roads so curvy that Mattie got car sick and threw up all over me. I was slightly concerned it could be more than just car sickness - oh I don't know, possibly gas poisoning??? - and was ready to search the GPS for the nearest hospital if it happened again. Luckily, it didn't!
It was an unusual end to an otherwise peaceful and relaxing weekend in the North Carolina mountains.
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