Not the Way to Start a Trip

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Having worked all winter and spring we made plans for a trip with the Jag and an elaborate plan for grandkids trips. Note the plural!

We had a great plan to include a trip with our 6-year old grandsons to the Oregon coast and 1 for the 10 and 9-year-old granddaughters to Yellowstone National Park. Our 12 and 10-year-old grandsons would be busy this summer with swimming and a visit to their mom’s so we would need to figure out another trip for them at a later date. We even had a little trip planned for our 4-year old grandson to San Francisco.

Our plan was to drive to Northern California and pick up 1 grandson, Emilio, then drive to Oregon City and pick up the 2^nd one, Fynn. We’d take them to a Safari Park and a beach day.

We would then drive to Lost Lake and meet our youngest son and family. From Lost Lake, we’d all go to Sun River for a week. Our oldest son’s family would also meet up with us in Sun River and from there we would take our youngest grandson, Jasper to San Francisco for a 2-day stay.

It worked out that Emilio came to our house prior to our departure so we headed straight to Oregon City. We spent the night before Oregon City at a rest stop and figured we be at our youngest son’s house by 1 pm. Fynn was ready to go and couldn’t wait for us to arrive and Emilio could hardly wait to pick up Fynn.

About 10 am we stopped for fuel at Seven Feathers in Oregon, a place we normally stop. Unfortunately, when we started to get back on the highway, the truck wouldn’t shift out of 1^st gear. Mind you, this was a Friday.

We got off the highway and stopped so that Dale could check everything out. Some local guys came by and suggested that we go to an auto shop just down the road. The mechanic tested the car and it pointed to the transmission control module. He suggested that we drive the truck back to the Seven Feathers Campground, unload the 5^th wheel and bring the truck back. He said it would take about 1 week if the transmission had to be sent out. UGH!

We drove to the Seven Rivers Rest Stop and called AAA who gave us the names and phone numbers of the approved mechanics in the next town, Roseburg. We called the shops and one told us to call the AMCO shop, that he sent his employees’ there for training. We appreciated his honesty. The AMCO shop said to have the truck towed there, he would order a control module and start on it Monday.

We soon also realized that we needed a place to have the RV towed. AAA said to have it towed to wherever we and it would be safe. I started calling RV parks and my daughter-in-law was calling them as well. There were no spaces at any parks in Roseburg. I then called Seven Feathers, right next to us and after working on a site for several minutes they found one. We could stay for the week if we had to.

In the meantime, while all these phone calls were taking place, a lady who had parked beside us took matters into her own hands. She couldn’t get her mirrors to work so we showed her the button to set them. She then pointed at our truck and commanded Jesus to fix our truck. We started the truck as per our mechanic at home to see if resting had helped and the lady was so happy as she was sure that she’d healed our truck. As resting didn’t help we went back to the rest stop and called to make verify with AAA to tow both the truck and trailer. The lady seeing us parked again and me on the phone came over to our truck and laid her hands on the hood, then prayed. Oh, we of little faith, we didn’t even bother to talk with her, we only laughed. We wondered why she needed our help to get her mirrors working.

The truck was towed to Roseville and the RV was towed into the RV park next to us and poor Fynn and Emilio were not happy.

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