| December 16, 2006 |
| A Series of Unfortunate Events, or Blessed Events?? |
Friday morning started our trip over the river and through the woods to grandma's house we go (my parents in MO). Yeah that's a fun happy song we sing. However, the writer of this song failed to put in going up the mountain. To get to my parents you have to climb some pretty steep mountains. Our fun Friday morning quickly turned into an all day adveture and series of frustrations. We'll set the stage on Hwy 65 north of Clinton, AR. Before we see the forthcoming problem, let me give a brief history.
Heather and I had made plans to visit my mom and dad the weekend after my Christmas check from Blue Cross came in. The check came in on Thursday. We decided to pay off the red car and the check was mailed Friday morning (keep this in mind). Thursday evening I took the car to get an oil change. Everything checked out fine. The only problem came from our emmision sensor. We are giving out bad air. Since we live in Arkansas and not California, I had them just turn out the sensor light. It has nothing to do with how the car performs. Everything was good to go for our trip. We were excited. This would be our first trip in a paid off car. Little did we know, we had a Gremlin waiting for the right moment to poke its head out.
Friday morning I took Gavin to his speech therapy while Heather packed the bags (a full 4 of them). After Gavin's therapy, we had some errands to run. Shortly, Gavin, Heather, Tootsie, and myself were on the road heading north. We were on track for a good day of driving. There were no indications trouble was just miles ahead of us.
If you are familar with Hwy 65 in Arkansas, you will know that it has a lot of mountains and curves. The mountains begin at Clinton. If you know where Clinton is, than you know the type of climb that is just north of the city. I think it's at least 3 miles of climbing. This is where trouble found us. We started up the hill/mountain without any problems. About halfway up the climb, I started noticing something strange going on. The engine was running 4000 rpm and the gears were not shifting. Because the car wasn't shifting, we began to lose speed (once you lose your momentum on these hills, you're in trouble). I tried several tricks I knew to force the gears to shift. I hadn't said anything to Heahter at this point. She remarks why are you going slow up this hill. Well, it's not like I had much choice at this point. I told her my concerns. She was saying something else, but I wasn't listening. I'm starting to realize I can't shift gears. I looked ahead. We're aproaching the summit. Get me to the top. Just get me to the top, I begged. Halfway up the last stretch of hill it happened. Every light sensor came on and the engine died. I felt it both in my feet and in my hands. There was no way I was going any further. I eased off the gas, and guided the car to the side of the road. When your car has power steering and the engine dies, it is hard to do anything with the steering. I'm on auto pilot at this point. I'm not thinking. I'm just doing. I got the car to the side of the road and turned everything off except for the emergency blinkers. I sat there just looking at my gages and thinking "This is not good." One, two, three seconds later, a column of smoke started pouring out of the hood. My next thought was a phrase found most often in the Star Wars films. "I have a bad feeling about this."
My senses finally came back and the roar of the traffic filled my ears. I heard the sound of the radiator boiling. I heard Heather and Gavin. Gavin at this point was ok. I'm not sure what Heather was thinking. I popped the hood and checked things out. Yep, coolant was escaping somehow. Ok, I got the engine so hot that I busted a seal or hose somewhere. I can live with that. That's the aftermath. "What caused the problem to begin with", I thought. Naturally, I thought the transmission had gone out. But I'm not a mechanic. The only thing I knew at this point was my family was on the side of the road on the side of a mountain in a car that won't run. I called my dad. He had Brain get phone numbers of tow trucks in Clinton. Heather called Patrick in Conway to have him start heading towards Clinton (an hour drive).
Let me stop for a second and ask this question. Is this the beginning of unfortunate events or is this the beginning of blessed events? At the time I was thinking unfortunate events. Looking back I'm seeing there are a lot of blessings that started at this point. 1) There was a shoulder big enough to get off of the road (other places the side of the road is literllay the side of the mountain). 2) The weather was beautiful. 3) Patrick was in Conway. 4) My parents were able to get me phone numbers in Clinton. 5) The first company I called was available to come out right away. 6) My family was safe. I found out all of this within the first 10 minutes of being stranded.
While we were waiting for the tow truck, we had two angels stop and check on us. The first guy was heading home to Harrison. He pulled over to see if he could help. He couldn't, but he was satisfied that help was coming. About 5 minutes later, our second angel stopped. This was a 71 year old lady. She had passed us. She turned around and came back. She was very sweet. She too wanted to make sure help was coming. She talked to me for a little while. She then went to say hello to Heather and Gavin (at this point, Gavin had gotten scared). She was able to help Gavin relax and smile for a little while. I remember what she told us. "I'm sorry this happened, but you never know what bigger problems may have been around the bend. God has a reason for this. It might have been to prevent something else." With that being said and satisfied we were safe, she headed home. It wasn't too much longer that the tow truck arrived.
The tow truck driver was very kind. He hooked the car up. We piled in to the cab, Gavin in the middle, and Heather on my lap (Tootsie is still in the car). Then we headed back down the mountain. We dropped Heather and Gavin off at McDonalds where Patrick would be meeting them. The driver took me and the car all over town trying to find a mechanic that could work on the car that day. For all the driving he did for me, he was just going to charge $50 plus tax for the tow. He didn't care about the mileage. He wanted to help me and my family. We weren't able to find a mechanic. We ended up at the Chevy dealership. The service manager came out to talk with me. He said the person that would best help me had the rest of the day off. At this point, I was all out of options. I decided to have the car towed to a Ford dealership in Conway. The tow truck driver was willing to go to Conway. However he had to charge more. I knew this. What surprised me was the amount. He said he would tow the car to Conway for only $120. (Note to the readers: This is another blessing. He could have charged a lot more). By this time, Patrick had arrived. We loaded into Patrick's jeep. Heather, Gavin, and Tootsie were put in the back. We headed home.
We were fortunate that the dearship was still open. They got a work order made up. We switched over to Becky's car and headed back to the house after way too many hours on the road.
The car won't be looked at until Monday. You might be worried about the money aspect. I am. However, let me remind you what I said at the beginning. I had gotten my Christmas check from the company. We should have just enough to cover the expenses. If not, God will provide the rest. |
posted by Dare @ 1:18 PM  |
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| 1 Comments: |
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Wow. That was an interesting trip indeed. I'm glad to hear that you're all ok.
I liked what the nice elderly lady said. She's right. The hindsite is always better. Sometimes we can't see God in the situation because we're focused on other things...I know because I do it often.
I hope the rest of your holidays goes without any problems.
You left out a blessing...God gave you the strength to steer that car to the curb. That must have been some kinda hard.
Merry Christmas Corbins!
From the Gulledges
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Name: Dare
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Wow. That was an interesting trip indeed. I'm glad to hear that you're all ok.
I liked what the nice elderly lady said. She's right. The hindsite is always better. Sometimes we can't see God in the situation because we're focused on other things...I know because I do it often.
I hope the rest of your holidays goes without any problems.
You left out a blessing...God gave you the strength to steer that car to the curb. That must have been some kinda hard.
Merry Christmas Corbins!
From the Gulledges