'The Middle' season 9 episode 7 spoilers: The Hecks get sidetracked on their Thanksgiving road trip

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Promotional picture of "The Middle" on ABC.

In the next episode of "The Middle," Mike Heck (Neil Flynn), his wife Frankie (Patricia Heaton), and their children hit a setback on the road and may not arrive in time to celebrate Thanksgiving at her sister's house.

The synopsis and promotional pictures for the upcoming installment titled "Thanksgiving IX" were just released recently and showed the Heck family stuck at a gas station. Apparently, their car has run out of gas and they need to fill it up so that they can get to Frankie's sister's house for the holidays. Strangely enough, it seems that none of them have any cash on hand to pay for the gas. There seems to be no ATM machines at the gas station which is in the middle of nowhere. They decide to appeal to the store attendant to see if he can give them a pass for the gas since it is the holidays.

The attendant does not give in to the family's charms who now have to scrape up whatever money they can find. Their kids Axl (Charlie McDermott), Sue (Eden Sher), and Brick (Atticus Shaffer) manage to come up with a bunch of spare change which they place on the counter. However, the denominations are too small to come up with any significant amount. It remains to be seen if the Hecks will be able to pay for the gas and eventually travel to their relative's place for Thanksgiving.

In the last episode, Frankie let her ailing mom Pat (Marsha Mason) stay in her house so that she could take care of her. They both got caught in an argument but were able to forgive each other in the end. Pat agreed not to be too critical of Frankie's household decisions.

"The Middle" season 9 episode 7 will hit the airwaves on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.