ADZPCTKO here we come!! so we just got our van back from the shop and told them that we wanted it to be ready for a trip down to southern california. maybe that wasn’t the best because they found all kinds of things to fix, things that i didn’t even know the van had. it now has a new windshield, new tires, new axles and even a new flux compacitor and we are ready to go.
it started off like all trips, throwing everything we needed in the vehicle, hoping we didn’t forget anything and saying a prayer that God’s will be done. after 3 or 4 tries, it started up and off we went, sun shining, flip flops on our feet and smiles on our faces as we step out on this adventure. then it happened... about 45 minutes from home, cassandra starts to see smoke coming up through the vents by the windshield and says that this is exactly what happened when our engine caught on fire three years ago and i need to pull over!! of course i think she is overreacting, i don’t see any smoke, and i take my time to find a spot. i get out, walk to the back, open up the engine compartment, really hoping that i don’t see flames and smoke billowing out like before.
thankfully, no fire, so i went back to the front and cassandra is quick to point out that the smoke is still coming out of the vents and this time i see it. the road trip seems to be fading right in front of my eyes, my mind racing to a million questions for God about why we dumped so much money into this van, can we rent a car and still make it down there, what about last minute flights and on and on.
i’ve noticed a few themes in my life, and one of them is that is something seems to be going wrong, just wait a little bit. i crawled on the ground looking underneath the van, then got up and looked in the engine compartment again, then walked back up to the front, mainly to give me a chance to think and to make it look like i’m actually doing something for cassandra’s sake. so there we are, sitting on the side of the road, no cell phone, not sure what to do, just waiting. so i get back in, start it up and hope everything fixed itself, a little bit of smoke came out, but then it stopped, we looked at each other, kept the windows rolled down and said, let’s just try to see how far we can go.
these are the things that road trips are made of, adventure, uncertainty, suspense, laughter, new scenery and meeting new people.