Just sit right back And you’ll hear a tale. A tale of a fateful trip, That started from this little town, Aboard this big black truck.
We left home ten days ago for our camping vacation in the mountains. It was a beautiful morning. We waited late enough to avoid the morning work traffic and headed up the hill. At the bottom of Salt River Canyon we made a potty stop and on up the hill.
We were so excited when we got to Show Low. We were right on schedule. We were only about an hour from the campground and check in was at two. We brought the truck to a stop at a light and heard a terrible grinding, rattle. We felt badly for the vehicle next to us because it sounded as if his truck was falling apart. On through the light we went only to be caught in road construction where we had to slow down again. It was then we realized the grinding and rattle were coming from our truck.
Oh No!!
Dave checked all the gauges and everything was good; nothing running high or low but the noise…Thinking we may have run over something, and it was dragging from the undercarriage or had gotten stuck somehow, we found a wide spot to pull over and thoroughly check things out.
Nothing.
Dave checked under the hood. Everything was fine there too. We kept going, thinking positive and knowing that when we got to the campground we (he) could check things out more. And then there was the squeal or whine…no, this needed attention now so Dave turned around and headed back to a Auto/Diesel shop we had just passed.
The owner came out to help us; he and Dave did a few diagnostics and the mechanic determined he didn’t know what it was and told us about a transmission shop in Show Low. Six miles back in to town.
Before Dave called them we grabbed hands and prayed. We needed to go to the right place and we needed wisdom on what to do. Cancel the vacation? Stay in a hotel? What? Dave made the call and “Tyler” told us where they were located, to bring the truck in and if it died, they had a tow truck.
In those six miles we decided we would call a rental car place to see if they had a van or something that would get us and our camping gear to the campground while the truck was getting fixed.
Yep! That’s what we would do. Thank you Lord!
Now I will tell you, this is going to be a two-day blog.
We got to Tyler and the transmission shop. They were swamped but he heard our tail – from out-of-town, saw all the camping equipment loaded in the truck, knew we had reservations at the campground for the week and he put the truck on the lift to see what was happening.
Transfer case! There was a hole in the transfer case. He could have a new one and it could be replaced by end of day Friday. Thank you Lord! We knew it would be costly but at least we had a plan.
Enterprise Rentals had a truck we could rent but not everything would fit in the bed. No problem, we have a bigger truck. Yes! And they also had a Veteran’s discount that they applied to the rental. Thank you Lord!
It was now four o’clock and we drove back to the transmission shop and unloaded all the camping gear from our black truck and put it in the white truck. Oh my! And off to the campground we went. Needed to have camp set up before dark.
Thanking the Lord for getting us up the hill safely. Not being “broke down” on the road out in the middle of nowhere, having someone who was honest and diagnosed our problem, having a rental truck that would hold all our gear and getting through it all without becoming overly stressed and not letting it ruin our vacation! These were all big things to be thankful for.
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” James 1:2-5 NLT
We got to the campground and were set up completely within an hour and fifteen minutes. Another big thank you. As we sat outside that night, we reminded ourselves that although all this had caught us by surprise God was not surprised in the slightest.
He had a plan and if we continued to keep our hearts right and seek Him, He would get us through it all. We fell asleep that night knowing that we were giving Him control and He would direct our steps.
“Turn to the Lord for help in everything you do, and you will be successful.” Proverbs 16:3 ERV
Day 1: Trust God!
The tale of our vacation isn’t over yet. I’ll finish it up tomorrow.
Not sure what has taken you by surprise in the last few days but I do know that you too can trust God. He’s got the answer for every situation.