Thursday morning, around 9, we left for Maine. We made it about 2 hours into our trip when we stopped and I went into the camper to grab all the dog's leashes. We not only had our two dogs with us, but we also had Doug's parents two and Kenny and Laurie's dog. I figured by the next stop they were going to need a leg stretching and a potty break so I figured I should be prepared. When I got into the camper, I realized there was water all over the floor. I pulled a couple towels out and tried to find where it was coming from. I finally narrowed it down to somewhere under the bottom bunk and near the water storage tank. Doug mentioned that he had seen a couple drops from under there, but hadn't though much of it. Come to find out, it was leaking from the drain valve on the tank itself. We decided the best thing to do would be to drain the tank and go dry the rest of the week. I had 5 gallons of water in the camper and we could use that to flush and brush our teeth throughout the week. So we pulled the plug. I stuffed a towel under the valve to catch any more water that would seep out, and we stopped and picked up some JB weld to fix it once it dried. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. That stop put us an hour behind, but we still made decent time seeing as we were hauling a trailer.
I thought I had dealt with the death of Uncle Steve, but showing up at his place set the emotions right back in place. It was tough to be at his house, "hear him", "see him", watch his wife and son struggling. My heart was/is broken, especially for them. Uncle Steve was such an amazing man, a man that gave his all in everything he did. As we waited for other family members to show up, we helped Aunt Marcia deal the best that we could. Overwhelmed is an understatement for how she feels.
The girls met a new friend while we were there...another homeschooler! She is twelve, and they have agreed to be pen pals. Marissa and Madalyn are super excited to be writing back and forth with her.
Saturday came, the day of the service, and we all headed for the church. We were still waiting on Uncle Steve's cousin Dave, and his best friend Alex and his wife Jeanette. Dave showed up in a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals. He apologized for his attire and explained that he shouldn't even be there. Can I just say God is good? His story went something like this.
Dave lives in the state of Washington. When he boarded the plane, he planned on carrying on his luggage. The first couple people in front of him in line were able to carry their luggage on. When it got to him, they said the plane was full and he needed to check his bag. Obviously wasn't his plane but he didn't have a choice at that point in time. When he arrived in Washington DC for his 2nd flight, his baggage was no where to be found. He proceeded to his next plane where he was informed that his flight was canceled....not delayed, no gate change...canceled. The man that he road with on the 1st flight came up to him and said that there was room in his car for him. They were heading to Maine and would be willing to drive him to the church. He left the address for the hotel he was staying at so his luggage could be delivered there, and headed out. He arrived at the church about 10 minutes before the service started. God cares about the little details. :) AMAZING!!!
The service was beautiful. It was filled with memories, an amazing slideshow that his son Jeff put together, love...over 450 people showed up that day to remember Uncle Steve. If that doesn't say something about how many lives that man touched in his lifetime, I don't know what will.
We headed back to the house and enjoyed an open hearth fire, roasting marshmallows and enjoying time together as a family. I'm thankful for the time we had. We got to meet and spend time with Aunt Marcia's brother, his wife and son, and I feel like we gained a couple more family members.
Sunday morning, around 10:30, we headed for home. It was hard leaving, but I was thankful that Aunt Marcia's brother Todd was staying on for another day. This would give them some time alone. The support system that God has given her is amazing and I'm so thankful that she isn't doing this alone.
The trip home was uneventful and beautiful. We traveled together with Doug's parents and sister for the majority of the trip. Kenny and Laurie passed us and headed for home on one of our potty stops for the girls. About an hour past Speculator, the light on the pilot came on for gas. Anyone that pulls a trailer knows that that light isn't something you want to see when you are in the middle of nowhere, hauling a bunch of weight. You suck through gas a lot faster this way! I hit the fuel button on the GPS and searched for the nearest gas station. I think the nearest station was about 18 miles away, and the car was saying we only had 12 miles left on our tank of gas. Math wise that leaves us 6 miles short. Without saying a word to each other, we punched it in as a new destination and we both started praying. As we made our first left hand turn off of the main road, both our hearts sunk...the road went to just shy of a 4 wheeler trail...it was still paved, but very narrow, just a few houses, and my first thought was the people that say that some follow their GPS right off a cliff. As we prayed, I just kept watching the GPS count down the miles, as well as the computer gas gauge. About 6 miles short of the gas station, the computer on the car read 0 miles left. I started asking Doug about stopping at a house and just asking for a couple gallons of fuel. We had some cash with us so we could pay them. He just responded that God was going to get us there. As we made our last right hand turn, I was having my doubts that the gas station was even going to be open! On top of all this, Doug's parents were still behind us, with no cell service and had absolutely NO idea what was going on. We pulled into the community store, where they had ONE gas pump with only 91 octane fuel. At that point we didn't care. God is good and he was so gracious to us to get us to that station. I had my doubts, but seriously I'm frustrated that I did. He was MORE than capable! We made it home about 9:30pm, got unloaded, started laundry, and went straight to bed.
Back to the daily grind first thing in the morning...
