Meet Black Beauty

This picture was taken on Pismo Beach...you can actually drive on the beach!!! Like I said in the previous post we certainly are blessed and with this blessing we as a family have to make a major lifestyle change.

One of the reasons we have bought and maintained older vehicles is because of our young family. We didn't want to always be so concerned with what they bring or eat in the car. We allowed them to eat when we traveled and occasionally allowed drinks other than water. That has all changed! There is NO eating in this new truck. There is NO drinking in the new truck...there is more "NO" than yes. ;-)  We want to be excellent stewards of what God has provided and want to take care it so it can last a really long time.

She has had her first wash and we are trying to determine if she will actually fit in the garage. And over all she is a blast to drive...thank you Jesus for such a special gift.

Point Reyes (an hour north of San Fran) and San Francisco

So we arrive in Olema, a small town near Point Reyes, CA to camp for a couple days and spend time in San Francisco. Shane bought and installed a new fuel filter and was determined it was the true problem with the truck, well, no dice. We forced it to start again on July 8th for the drive into San Fran and were determined to have a great day in the city. (Which of course we did!)

When we arrived in Olema, we went to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. It was covered in fog and it was freezing but the kids enjoyed it regardless. I think they were just happy to be out of the car and able to run around.

Then we went to Drakes Beach, also part of Point Reyes. I was too cold to get out as was Leah and Nathan, but the die hards in the family HAD to see the ocean up close and personal finally!

As you can see it was almost dark and with the fog...it was kinda cool to take a few pics.


Shane and I had a nice conversation on the drive into San Francisco and we were really beginning to feel frustrated with truck. He kept saying "This is YOUR car and it NEEDS to be reliable with you driving kids around and I have lost all faith in it." It was hard to hear him wrestle with the need to make sure his family is safe and being wise with our money. For many years he has felt that the wise thing God wanted from him was to fix and keep going the ones we had and suddenly he began to feel totally different.

We started our morning in San Fran off with an amazing Alcatraz tour. I have never had a tour this good before. It was everything I love...history, history, history. Even the kids thought it was cool.

After the tour, we ate lunch at the best bakery in the world! We ate clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls. The kids ate sourdough pizza and grilled cheese...it was heaven for the taste buds.

Of course we rode the cable cars and while it was cold and windy, we loved San Francisco...wish we could have had another day to explore the city.

At some point during the day, Shane contacted a local Chevy dealer and asked about a new suburban. I had no idea until we were headed back to the truck after our day in the city. He said "I think God has a new truck waiting for us. It is everything we have talked about and it is just sitting at this dealership about 45 min away. We are going to go buy it." I was a bit shocked. It was 7:30pm...and we decided to call and see what time they were open before we went an hour out of our way. They close at 8...ok, God must have another plan. Shane asked if they would be willing to stay open for a sale...and they were. At 10:30pm, with tired and exhausted kids, we drove off the lot with our new Suburban...leaving all our car stress behind. I do have to say that God had His hand all over this. We never could have imagined it going down like this, you know, while on vacation out of state, but He has blessed us and rewarded our faithfulness. We are humbled by His tender care during the first half of the trip. The truck is more than we NEED but also has many thing we wanted. It is perfect...it was placed right there, at that time by our loving Lord and Savior for us. It is special!!!

More of the story to come...stay tuned!

Yosemite

Waking up this morning, our last morning in CA, I can't help but sit and reflect over this trip. It is amazing to me how quickly 2 weeks can go by. There have been some amazing high points and well, some low ones too. Nothing lower than our second day in Yosemite.

The story continues...

So we went to Yosemite and spent to days in the park. We camped outside the park since we were not able to get a site within the Yosemite Village. We all packed into our friends RV and made the 35 min drive into some of the most beautiful part of this country I have ever seen. We took the kids on a few trails and hikes and mostly just stood in awe of the valley.

We discovered that Yosemite Village had its own auto parts store and Shane was confident the problem was a timing issue and ordered a part to be here the second day we were going to be in the park. We were on a "God high" for sure.  How amazing was His provision that there would be a store we needed with the ability to order the part we needed. We enjoyed a very special day stress free of all our car troubles.
The second day we went to the Pioneer Village and there was a real working blacksmith...the kids stood watching him for an hour. He made is an old fashioned hook to hang a coat. It was really cool.

So we got our part and headed back to camp. Shane proceeded to start to fix the truck and I helped with dinner. Next thing I know, I am walking out with some plates of dinner I see all the kids scrambling around Leah who was laying on the floor...they started screaming, "She's got hurt!". I ran to her just as she went unconscious. In the moment my heart stopped. I screamed for Shane and by the time he and Jim (who happens to be a pediatrician) got to her she was trying to open her eyes. The story from the kids was she slipped and fell on her belly, and Jacob picked her up to bring her to me. She squirmed and she fell/got dropped on her head from his arms. Dr. Jim checked her out really well and we watched her like a hawk for the next hour. About 45 min after the fall she was back to her old self, bright eyed and happy. I wish I could say the same for myself. It was so overwhelmed with emotion and I didn't want the kids to see me upset or how scared I was so I kept it in. Just about the time Leah was back to normal, the truck was finished...time to see if it works....and it does not. Despair began to set in and the tears wouldn't stop. I cried and cried. I sat in the forest and cried out to God in complete surrender and brokenness. I knew I could not take much more. It was the lowest point in the trip.

We did manage to get the truck started in the morning with the help of pouring gas directly into the carborator.  Once again we began to limp along all the way to the coast north of San Francisco. We made it to Olema, a small town on the coast and in Point Reyes. Shane bought a fuel filter thinking for sure it must be a fuel delivery problem.

To be continued...

Finally...we have some internet

Those of you anxiously waiting for me to blog about our trip are finally getting your fix. We are currently camped at Paradise By The Sea in Oceanside, CA. We have a private entrance to the beach and the kids, (and Shane) enjoyed a lovely afternoon on the beach. We are also enjoying the luxuries of an RV resort, hence the internet access! It is lovely here and I can totally understand why people live here. The high was 75 and they low is expected to be about 65. Tomorrow we are at Legoland all day! (The kids have been waiting patiently for this part of the vacation)

We have an an interesting trip to say the least. Some pretty low points and many, many high points. We were/are determined not to let our struggled ruin this vacation and God has had His hand on us the whole time so far so I expect Him to be guiding out path all the way home.

We started out on July 1st in the late afternoon. We drove about 5 hr to a small RV resort outside Palm Springs to sleep. We got up and headed out first thing in the am, we had to finish the long drive to Sequioa National Park. We arrived in Sequioa without incident and felt the cool temps rush through our veins. On July 3rd, we planned to do all the main attractions that Sequioa offered us, and we were not disappointed!

Below are some of the pictures from Sequioa...

So, we spent 2 nights in Sequioa just getting our appetite wet to the adventures we had ahead. We had no idea the kind of adventure God was going to use to stretch our faith and trust in Him, and for me especially, not give into despair.

When we are all packed up on the 4th, ready to head to Yosemite, we went to start our 99 suburban to hook it to the trailer and it did not start. We couldn't figure out why. It was turning over but not starting. Imagine being in the middle of a national forest and no way to get tools or a mechanic to you since the nearest was about 30+ miles away. Our wonderful friends, the Williams, (whom we are on vacation with) offer a jumped and the truck started! Praise God...away we went! We stopped in Fresno to buy a new battery so we wouldn't have that problem anymore. When Shane finished installing the battery and we were ready to fire it up the truck wouldn't start again. Ugh! Thankfully the Autozone staff was able to give a jump and again we were off! Slowly but surely over the next few hours the truck started having some serious problems, we lost all acceleration. We limped along gaining speed on the down hills to inch up the mountain climbs, and finally we had to stop. The Williams hitched out pop-up to their RV and we miraculously made it to Yosemite. Still baffled by the problems and not understanding why the truck was having these problems, we proceeded to Yosemite National Park for 2 days. God's creativity leaves me speechless as we climbed the lower Yosemite Falls, and other trails. That park is an amazing feast for the eyes.

The car problems only get worse from here....but the story will have to be continued...

N.R.O.V

Not
Reliable
On
Vacation!

Ok, ok...so what could I possibly mean by that? Well, we are 4 days into our journey and on the drive to Yosemite from Sequioa National Park our burb decided to make things interesting. Shane believes we have a timing issue and has ordered the appropriate parts to fix the truck in our campground tomorrow night. It is one amazing God story which I will save for a future post since I am on limited wifi here at our campground. I have included a picture from Sequioa...it was beautiful there and we spent all of today in Yosemite and have been amazed at God's power to create for sure. We get to spend another whole day in the park tomorrow and we can't wait!

To be continued...

Oh and we have seen one bear, 5 deer and a ton of squirrels...the kids think it is soooooo cool!