muckefuck | Someone watches over me

I caught up with various members of my family last night and was left the impression that I'd lucked out totally in my return trip. It was basically uneventful, the only real aggravations being (1) having my luggage searched at Friendship (no, it doesn't make me special; they were searching everyone's bags) and (2) a noisy kid in the row behind me. And both of these had upsides. The two men who went through my things were very polite and friendly and the brat behind us built solidarity in my row, which translated into some nice chat as I played tour advisor to two visiting Long Islanders. Compare this to the tribulations of my parents and siblings:

Because of Internet troubles, bunj and e. left two hours later than they planned on Thursday, got caught in horrible traffic and rough weather near DC (the power went out at a filling station as they were tanking up), and got into NY near midnight. Yesterday, they drove 15 hours straight, arriving home just in time to get caught in the endless traffic jam that is Northern Indiana after a holiday weekend.
My sister's three year-old caught either a flu bug or food poisoning while they were on the road and was throwing up for hours. (I have the story second hand, so I don't know details.)
Dad's PVC valve conked out and he started burning oil; he spent the Fourth in Indianapolis while mechanics fixed his truck and just got in four p.m. yesterday.

How about the rest of you? Any tales of holiday travel horror to share?