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The Vacation That Wasn't....

by on ‎08-24-2016 01:03 PM

 A wise old sage once said that it is the pathway and not the destination that counts.  That man apparently does not travel by motor coach. 

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It is easy to sit on top of the mountain and spout out wise sayings, it is quite another to have a motor coach succumb to a catastrophic motor issue while in rush hour traffic while doing 70mph.  Anyone who has ever had an R.V. fully understands that the joy of owning such a vehicle is parking it, preferably at the destination in which you had originally set out.

 

The same wise guy I mentioned earlier also said that every grey cloud has it's silver lining. The very black clouds that hung just above I-70 that night, just east of Indianapolis, had no such silver hew, and had spawned six tornadoes within a 40-mile radius of where we found ourselves.  Residence of the small Midwestern town where we now were stranded in and preparing to gather animals in two's.

 

I won't bore you with all the mechanical details but apparently the "flux capacitor" had discombobulated itself and in doing so had destroyed the "whatchamacallit" as well as the "thingamajig".  The end result was the motor over heating faster than I can type the two words that I said in that moment.  I won't repeat those words since I have a morals clause in my contract. The engine conked out, taking with it the power steering and locking up the air breaks, leaving two 150 yard skid marks on the highway...and one in my shorts.

 

Now bear with me, I am getting to the uplifting part...........

 

Anyone who might be blessed to know the stretch of my home state between Richmond and Indianapolis knows that Greenfield is the only town on either side of 20 miles with motels.  Our coach broke down just past the exit ramp to State Road 9 and I will say, with all sincerity, that God himself was tugging on that steering wheel. We cleared three lanes of traffic and got her pulled over with a ton of "what if's" and "thank you's."  

 

My first concern was for Kelly and our four dogs. Rain usually "falls" vertically but in some weird test of gravity, today it seemed to come at us horizontally, and in droves. In the batters’ box was our first angel and now stepping up to the plate, my brother Donald. With a single phone call, he dropped what he was doing and drove out to meet us. Second angel and I don't even remember her name was a woman at the Holiday Inn Express that bent the rules and allowed us to book a room with more dogs than is usual. There are four motels at that interchange; two had hung up on me when I mentioned traveling with dogs. 

 

Our third angel was a great guy named Wayne.  He works very hard for the towing company he represents and even after a 12 hour day was friendly and professional. He doesn't set the rates and it was steep to get our motor home towed one exit up to a safe place to drop it. The same man would meet me the next morning with less than 8 hours of sleep to tow it to a repair shop in Indianapolis.

 

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Our third angel is named Ashley. She works for a rental car agency in Greenfield and helped me to secure a vehicle the next morning and later to rent another vehicle (with dogs...which is against policy) to drive back home while our coach is fixed in Indianapolis. By the way, I won't mention what agency she works for, but I will never rent a vehicle from any other company after witnessing her kindness and good hearted nature. They have my loyalty for the rest of my life. (Please forgive me, but the gentleman in the photo next to Ashley counts as another angel but I simply cannot remember his name, he is the man that cleans out the rental cars and even with my baldness I could not convince him that all the dog hair in the back was of my own shedding. His willingness to help a stranger in their time of need was truly wonderful.)

 

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I spent some life precious time with family, met a few incredible strangers along the way, and everyone is safe and sound. 

 

Maybe, just maybe, that wise old sage on that mountain has something.

 

Safe Travels!

 

-Dan

           

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