So almost 2 months after becoming “full-timers”, we had our first big road adventure today in the middle of the west Texas desert. Our serpentine belt shredded while driving down the road.
All is well.
We are fine.
At the beginning of this journey, we set our minds to try and never take for granted all the providential pieces and all the ways we should be thankful for the Lord’s provision. So here are some of those for today:
- The belt shredded but did not completely break. That allowed us to keep driving and not be stranded on the side of the road!
- I married a smart man who knows his stuff and was able to look “under the hood” and know exactly what was wrong.
- As soon as we realized it was the belt, we were afraid it could have done other damage or torn through other hoses. But it didn’t!
- As most know, there can be LONG stretches of highway without exits in west Texas, but we were 5 miles from one when it happened. It was still a prayer-filled 5 miles, but it could have been 25!
- It also happened on a downhill portion of the interstate rather than uphill. And that allowed us to somewhat COAST those 5 miles.
- When it happened, I was on a conference call with work. And at almost the exact moment that it happened, Dad texted to see how we were doing. It was nice to have connection to the world! And to also have some immediate prayers.
- We had been through several stretches already in Texas without cell service. But we had cell service the entire 4 hours we were stopped which allowed us to call for assistance, keep in touch with people, call for parts and get work done while we waited.
- The exit had one “business”, and we soon discovered that it had just re-opened after having been closed for a long time. It still looked like a ghost town (see photos below) but at least there were a few people around and we weren’t totally alone.
- We became Good Sam members and signed up for Roadside Assistance right after we got our RV so we called them, they got all our information and did all the work of finding someone to come help us. And they even paid for a portion of it!
- For a time, the mechanic could not find the belt we needed. We even started calling places in El Paso (85 miles away) and no one had it. But since we had Internet access, Matthew was able to do some research and discovered a belt that would work, even if it wasn’t the exact one. And the mechanic had it!
- West Texas is hot, dusty and windy. But we had our comfy home with our comfy couch and our working generator (that M had filled with oil 2 days ago) that supplied us with electricity and air conditioning while we waited. We also had our working refrigerator with food for lunch.
- It happened this morning and not last night at the end of our day when waiting 4 hours would have put us waiting in the dark.
- Because of the delay, we were driving into an awesome and beautiful sunset tonight. (See next blog post for those amazing photos!)
And so tonight we’re parked, resting and thankful!
