I left for Avon, Colorado on September 23rd early Monday morning after having my car fixed. You see, my mom and I were stranded on I-75 in Detroit two weeks prior to me leaving. My car was fixed by our mechanic C.J. and ready for me to roll out on Monday the 23rd. Well.......almost.....I noticed when I was driving that cold morning that I had absolutely no heat in my car. This is not something I wanted to travel without knowing the weather in Colorado can change drastically at any moment. So, I called Bruce and said, "I'm heading back. I have no heat in my car." With the problem fixed, I headed out Wednesday morning very early for my road trip adventure. Ahhh! Heat!
Things were going very well until I stopped at a rest area in Indiana. Coming out of the rest area, I started my car up and lo and behold my engine light came on. "What now?" I exclaimed. Freaking out, I called Bruce and said, "you'll never believe what just happened. My engine light has come on." Now, this hasn't happened in some years. I immediately retrieved my car manual to look for the what-does-this-mean answer. If blinking, something bad could happen. If not blinking, it could be just a sensor problem or whatever. I'm feeling a bit uneasy, well let's be honest - anxious. I still have a way to go - All. By. Myself. I told Bruce I would keep going. Shoot, this engine like thingy had come on before some years back and nothing had happened. So.....onward!
Spending the night in Omaha, NE was my plan. I would just pick up a booklet at one of the rest stops and get a room for an inexpensive price. I reach Omaha and the traffic is pretty bad at this time of day - people getting out of work, going home at 6:00 p.m. Not familiar with Omaha, I took a wrong exit to reach the hotel - went east instead of west....oops! When I did reach my destination, I pulled out my handy hotel discount booklet, went in and asked for a room at this discount rate. "I'm sorry", she said, "we are all booked up. I just gave my last room away." Are. You. Serious. Lady. Nothing?" I didn't actually say that, but it was there on the tip of my tongue, longing to be said. There goes my discount and saving some expense. I went next door to the Holiday Inn Express knowing I would be paying over $100.00 for a hotel - not thinking I could have used my AAA, which we had purchased for this trip, to get a discount. Oh well! I was tired, not thinking clearly. This was all new to me.
Traveled many miles through prairie land - sort of like Laura Ingalls Wilder - I did say sort of, and also thinking of Haylee. Many family trips ago, we had come this way to Colorado Springs for hiking and camping and done the "Laura Ingalls stuff." Haylee would always say, "is this where Laura traveled?" Did Laura live here?" Needless to say, this traveling through Iowa and Eastern Colorado was very boring and were roads less traveled.....prairie land galore.
Reaching my destination on Thursday September 26th, I met Kelly at the day care where she picks up Analiese. What a joy to see them both....worth all the trouble of getting started, worth all my anxious thoughts, worth all the many worship songs I sang from my collection of CD's, worth all the prayers I prayed along the way for safety.
I have been here now for almost four weeks. This has been a great time for me and for Kelly. We've gone to Aspen, Silverthorne, Eagle, Vail, traveled the Independence Trail up into the high mountains to Aspen and today to Minturn and the park. Many adventures yet to come before I leave.
Speaking of adventure, my car's brakes went out while I was traveling very slowly from the market in Avon to the condo I call home. I'm thinking, "great, now what?" My car, as I'm writing this, is still at the auto mechanics. They say "don't drive this back to Michigan. It's not safe." Bruce and C.J. (my mechanic at home) are working out the details of how to get parts here to Eagle-Vail and where to park my car while we mull over what to do once it's fixed. Me? I'm traveling back by airplane. There is no way I'm driving that car home! Once home safely, it's time to start looking for safe travels on the highway. My Ford Taurus has bit the dust! Shoot, I may even kiss the ground of my much-loved home.
I'm leaving two weeks later than planned, but Kelly doesn't mind and neither do I. Just have to take care of the car business before I go. Monday will be calling-auto-place-day and seeing if they will allow C.J. to get the parts and have them shipped to them. Not sure what awaits on the other side of this, but I've learned that God takes care of me, looks out for me and will work all this out somehow for my good and His.
