Hi everyone! It's good to be back home. After over one week away, my heart melted when my almost four year old ran into the house exclaiming "I love my house!" No matter how wonderful a vacation may be, I will admit that there is no better feeling than walking into your house after living outside of it for awhile. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and that is especially true in a love affair with your home.
Our ride home was anything but ordinary. We have been making the 6-7 hour trip to my in-laws for around 15 years now. We are thankful and blessed to have done so safely for all of those years. But twice now in two years, our cars have talked to us and thankfully we were listening!
Two years ago we packed our Trailblazer for a typical Memorial Day weekend away with family. But for some reason, this particular trip, we decided to take a different route than we had all of those previous years. {It's a tad more scenic and far less boring.} We had stopped off for dinner, and when we returned to the car and started it, we heard a loud knocking. We opened the hood and even our novice eyes could see that something was VERY wrong with our car's engine. As luck would have it, a tire place was literally right across the street. We drove it over and had a mechanic look under the hood at what we had found. He pointed us in the direction of a dealership for a new water pump and wished us luck. Somehow we made the 10 miles despite the loud knocking sound, and found ourselves lucky again as we arrived at an "extended hours" service shop. Not only did they make time for our vehicle, but they also had our part in stock. They gave us a lift to a hotel, fixed our car, and had it back to us by midnight on a very busy holiday weekend.
Yesterday, on our way home from vacation, we started hearing our car's engine hesitate as we pulled into a gas station to fill before we got onto the interstate. The hesitation had gotten worse over the past 15 miles. As we filled up, I noticed another tire place sitting across the street. As luck would have it, we found it open...on a Sunday! We drove over and again asked a mechanic to take a look. This time, a diagnostic test revealed repairs in the amount of $650. I'm sure the mechanic expected anxiety and disappointment when he delivered the pricey news, but instead we were ecstatic! Thankfully our experience last time made us investigate the sound. As a result, only two hours later, we were off towards the interstate heading home sweet home without the fear of a breakdown.
The timing was perfect as we also needed lunch, which was walking distance and passed most of our waiting time. The boys also kept busy hunting grasshoppers for the box and collecting rocks. {In the box was my boys toad and frog they had collected from their grandparents house to bring home and take care of in their toad house.} And if the mechanics couldn't have been any more helpful, the sweet guys even kept the box in their air conditioned office for us while they worked and while we left for lunch. I'm still grateful the toad behaved while he was there because later he twice escaped through the hole in the box into the car!
I'm so thankful I am writing this from the comfort of my own home and that I am not stranded on the side of a sweaty interstate somewhere in the dark with three very tired and worn out boys. I know He is watching over us! I can't wait to unpack and share all the wonderful sights and food from vacation next week!
In the meantime...tell me your crazy traveling stories!!!
Crazy! Praise the Lord you have always made it ok!
ReplyDeleteOne road trip we took was to Missouri, and we ended up with a flat tire on the highway. We had no clue until a car told us, and we were able to exit and were right by a wal-mart! Thankfully, we weren't stranded either! :)
nice
ReplyDeleteThat was a unique learning experience. It's always best to check the engine parts UK of your car before leaving. Too bad you had to learn it the hard way!
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