Challenging Day

Today was moving day. We had spent four days at Westport RV park. I knew I was looking for an area along the California coast that I had seen when we went through 3 years ago.

South from Westport you go through the lovely Mendocino area and then gradually you are along the Sonoma Coastline. The road is narrow, twisty, curvy, up-and-down, and scenic. In the RV we have to take it slow. We take advantage of what pull-offs there are to let the faster moving traffic pass.

Around lunchtime we stopped at one of the pullouts along the coast and had sandwiches. It also gives Henry a chance break from the constant vigilance he must maintain to drive this road with a big vehicle.

When it was time to go, he started the engine . . . no, he tried to start the engine . . . oh dear, the starter just keeps going and going and going and going - no matter what position the key switch is in, even with the key pulled out . . .not only is it making a horrible grinding squealing noise, it's beginning to smell. Henry is getting panicky (for good reason). He runs out side, opens the hood, and ends up cutting the wires to the starter. Fortunately the engine has started and is running OK. But now we won't be able to start it back up if we kill the engine.

Hum . . . . we have a quarter tank of gas. As we pass through the small picturesque villages along the coastline, there are no auto repair places. The first place we stop for gas, the alignment does not work, but in the next town, we add gas without turning off the engine.

When we finally get into Sprint cell phone territory, I get on the internet and try to find a place in the San Francisco area that will work on the RV. The first two places are no-go's, but they recommend another place, giving me the phone number. The phone number works, but the place has changed ownership and has a new name . . . no wonder I could not find it with Yahoo Yellow Pages.

Yes, they can work on it. I am given great directions on how to get from Petaluma to the dealership in the Alameda area. So we head into San Francisco, with relatively mild traffic considering it is almost 5:00.

I've looked up the Walmart that was mentioned, but it is likely on the RV unfriendly list. As we pull off the interstate, it is almost 6:00. While we're pretty sure that the dealership has already closed, I want to drive by to check on it.

Hallelujah!!!!! the gates are open and the repair bay doors are open!!!!! We don't have to figure out what we would have to do in the morning if we turned the engine off. We don't have to sleep all night with the engine running.

When this mishap first happened, we wondered who we would find to fix the RV THIS time. But one of my first thoughts was that God would provide.

Not only were they still open, they would be there till 9:00, plenty of time for me to gather together the stuff we would need to stay in hotels for the next few days.

While we are getting a little gunshy this trip about automotive troubles . . . . God has taken care of us each time.

And . . . if we have to be stranded again . . . I wanted to spend time in San Francisco this trip anyway.

And even though it took some driving, I found a fairly reasonably priced hotel in Pacifica. And we even found a neat place to eat near the hotel.

Yes, we are a little stressed out tonight, but God is good.