Unexpected Relaxation

I'm writing from a Super 8 in Superior, Wisconsin. It is 11:00 am, Tuesday. This was not the plan.

Let me just start at the beginning...

We left Mom and Dad's house at 8:45 yesterday morning and headed north toward Canada. We were pulling a trailer full of trim and doors. It was quite heavy. About an hour down the road, Kendall saw smoke from under the hood. We pulled over and tried not to freak out. Kendall got out to inspect everything and I seized the opportunity to give the boys a pep talk- "Don't ask Daddy lots of questions when he gets back in the car. Don't complain. We'll have to be patient. He needs to be able to think." Then we prayed.

We ended up leaving the trailer at the side of the toll road and got to the nearest exit. Kendall talked to a couple mechanics and they seemed to think that the transmission fluid had overheated and boiled over. They thought we would be okay to drive the van since it seemed to be driving fine. But we couldn't take the trailer all the way to Red Lake. Kendall arranged to have a mechanic flush the transmission in Goshen. So we slowly hauled the trailer back to Goshen, stopping to let the van rest. In Goshen, we ate lunch at my parents' house and I visited Jodi while the transmission people did their work. A few hours later we were back in the van, heading north once again. (My parents will bring the trailer when they come to help out again in a few weeks.)

Wow. What a long day of travel. Kendall and I kept being amazed at how little time had passed on the road. For some strange reason, it felt like we had been traveling 10 hours, when we had only been traveling 6 hours. Oh wait, we had been in the van for 10 hours, but had only made 6 hours of progress.

By 10:30 or so, we were wearing out, though the van was doing great. For some reason, though, we kept pushing it. Finally we pulled into a hotel at 12:30 (1:30 IN time), completely exhausted. I sat in the van with the boys while Kendall made the arrangements. He came out to get us and I turned the van off. After helping get the boys to the hotel room, Kendall went back out to park the van and get our stuff. The van would not start. What?! Are you kidding me?! By 1:30, Kendall had pushed the van off the driveway and thrown in the towel for the night. He was up before 7:00 to work on getting it to a mechnic.

So here we sit. The boys are getting restless. I mean, what are they supposed to do in a confined space where the only means of recreation are a television, lots of pillows and 2 trampolines? I just made them a "hot tub" in the bathtub, so they're sitting in there in their swimming trunks (aka tighty-whities). I hear them blowing bubbles right now.

We have no idea how long this will take or where we'll sleep tonight. Kendall just talked to the mechanic and he still doesn't know why the van won't start. This morning Kendall asked me in an accusing tone, "Did you pray for patience?" I assured him that I know better. :) I'd say we're actually doing pretty well and not terribly stressed out. And last night I was thinking how glad I am that we're all safe and together in a hotel room. There are many worse things that could happen on the road and the grandmotherly employee assured us that we can hang out here as long as we need to. And, now that I think about it, this plain ol' sitting is a change of pace from the last 2 weeks and from the weeks to come. Maybe we needed it.

And with that, I'm off to get a leisurely cup of tea in the hotel lobby.