Of all the things I thought could go wrong with this trip, I never envisioned leaving our little traveling home behind. In the words of eloquent poets everywhere, "Whodathunk?" I guess "wrong" isn't the correct word. More like involuntary revision. Kind of like when you write a paper that you think is absolutely amazing, A+ worthy even, and the teacher slashes it in cruel, red ink. It wasn't my plan, but it's a better plan.
How do I know? Well first of all, I just heard that storms have ravaged Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, the very states we would have journeyed through had we not broken down inside of Arizona. Not just rain, but tornadoes, flooding and torrential rain. I consider what a merciful God we have to have saved us from that situation.
Second, even when a wrench is thrown into my plans and I pout and shuffle my feet and hold a pity party (complete with chocolate cake or Ho-Hos or anything else I feel I "deserve"), I know that God has something better for me.
Now, so much has happened in the last week I believe I will have to break this up into two chapters, rather than give you the whole Megillah. I left you with a cliff hanger...over the Grand Canyon. As all who have seen it can testify, it is breathtaking. The weather, again, praise you Lord, was perfect. It had snowed an hour before we arrived, but when we got up the next morning it was sunny and lovely, and no wind storm as some had predicted.
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| Sunset at Hopi Point |
As mentioned before, we stayed in Williams. It should have been obvious, but the signage was sketchy and we couldn't figure out which way to the Grand Canyon. Some local yokels right out of a John Grisham novel, complete with long stringy hair and a pickup truck saw us studying our maps. I guess the cows had already been tipped, because it was apparently hilarious to back up their truck, rev it, drive right at us, then tip back their heads in guffaws. Back up, repeat. They did this until we decided to drive off. These were not teenagers, people. We then pulled over in a hillbilly-free zone and a nice man pointed the way.
The Fate of the Vehicles
Unfortunately, the truck had to go to the bone yard. At least the very nice man at Ford found us a salvage buyer and my father-in-law eked a few dollars out of it. We had some happenstance encounters with other people at the RV park that we thought would turn into a decent sale price for the 5th wheel, but they didn't come to fruition. In the end, the Ford man hooked us up with the RV man and he took it off our hands, although for half what it was worth. Still, he towed it for us and is generously holding it on consignment.
We will all miss the 5th wheel. It was very nice to have everything within reach and unpacked. However, I will not miss the sleeping arrangements. The first night Bill and I slept on a deflating air mattress on top of a thin sofabed mattress, on top of a stretched out canvas frame. It was like sleeping in a hammock. I had to claw my way up to my side of the bed. We were kind of like a people taco. Except that we're not as skinny as a taco so we were more like a chalupa. What's that new one? A Quesalupa. That was us: hot, fat, sticky chalupa. The next night we brought out a bigger air mattress and put it on the floor. It was more like a tostada - much more comfortable.
I will have to finish the rest of this later, but just know that we celebrated when we left the State of Arizona. In the next chapter...UPS driver from H-E double toothpicks.
Blessings:
Good, even perfect weather.
Helpful and honest car salesman (really!)
We don't live in Williams.
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