A Questionable Beginning

 So, last week my family and I made the trip to my sister's house in Lebanon, Oregon. To get there, we took highway 20. If you aren't familiar with these roads, it is a super twisty, middle of nowhere mountain road. Anyway, we were having a pretty uneventful trip, making good time when out of nowhere, McKayla says she isn't feeling well. So, we pull over. Thankfully we were right by a "slow vehicle turnout" area. As we went to pull off the road, the car just didn't go. There was a big noise, but I can't even put into words exactly what happened... 

Night of - using my flashlight and my phone camera

By the morning light. 

Because we were in a cell phone DEAD ZONE, we attempted to walk (Stephen in one direction, I in the other) to find signal with no luck. So, we started waving at cars, hoping someone would pull over. 

Thankfully, someone did. I decided that Stephen would go with the young man into town to call my family. My sister headed straight over and got there just before my dad and Stephen. Apparently the young man dropped Stephen off at the house. Not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that kind of kindness. 

We ended up being about an hour from our destination. We left the car there, but emptied everything out of it (the windows were partially down and the battery completely dead (it was close to the end of its "life" anyway, this just killed it.) The next morning Stephen and I borrowed my sister's car and went out to meet the tow-truck driver (thank you free roadside assistance because that tow would have COSTED us!) 

The view in front of where we stopped.

Between what the tow-truck driver and the shop guys said, all the bolts sheared off and the wheel just FELL OFF! Later talking to my brother, he said it is possible that the last place that worked on our car over-torqued the bolts. The mechanic was able to replace all the bolts and the tire/rim were not damaged. He also recommend (just in case) that we get the other front side done. We did! Thankfully dad has a mechanic friend who was able to do it inexpensively, all we did was buy parts and he and dad bartered for labor. He was also able to get the front bumper back in line for us. 

Our trip home was much less eventful. Thank you GOD! 

I just keep thinking, what would have happened if McKayla hadn't been sick. What if that wheel had come off going highway speeds. There was a hand of protection over us for sure. Now I'm trying not to think of the "what if's" I want to focus on the miracle that we were unharmed and the car, relatively in tact. I also thank God for the amazing stars we got to see that we would not have seen had we not stopped. Let me just tell you, middle of nowhere, no lights, the stars are incredible. None of the pictures I tried taking can capture it. 

Anyway. The worst beginning to a vacation we have ever had!