We were calmly driving down the road this afternoon through New Brunswick, enjoying the rolling red hills dotted with yellow, and the streams that trickled through the trees.
When Dad urgently exclaimed, “We’re in trouble!!†and started hitting the brakes. I glanced into the rear view mirrors to see what the problem was and saw smoke poring out back of the bus. Dad told the boys to grab the fire extinguisher as he pulled to the side of the road. I had meanwhile hurried to the back, because Christopher was asleep and I was picturing the whole bus to be in flames in a matter of minutes. As soon as the bus door was open, the boys jumped out with the fire extinguisher and ran to the engine. After ensuring that Christopher was awake, I followed the rest. They had found that there was a big coolant leak, and we lost all of it. The “smoke†was actually steam from the coolant coming in contact with the hot exhaust pipe.
Dad surveyed the damage and soon started to work on repairing the leak. From our collection of tools and supplies he used the following: hose clamps, black tape, and a scrap piece of radiator hose that wasn’t the right size. After Dad taped the hole, he split the hose and used hose clamps to clamp it over the black tape and the hole. Since we didn’t have enough water to put back in the system, Dad sent Christopher to see if he could find some water nearby. Christopher headed across the highway, which wasn’t busy, to the wooded median. He found a large puddle which looked as if it had been apart of a stream at one point. The water looked relatively clear so we filled up as many used anti-freeze bottles as we had. We filled the system and were thankful that Dad’s fix was successful.
Even though the coolant issue wasn’t on our agenda we were grateful for how the Lord blessed.
1.   We had the supplies to patch the hole.
2.   That the highway wasn’t busy.
3.   Beautiful scenery
4.   Water nearby
5.   Cool temperatures
Tomorrow morning as soon as the businesses are open we will start looking for the proper hose to replace the make shift repair.
“But my God shall supply all hour need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phillipians 4:19).
Serving Jesus,
Anna
Praise the Lord you had a wide area to pull off the road to take care of everything. The scenery is beautiful.
I am so happy to see that you are looking on the bright side of troubles…even with the trouble with Uriah! What beautiful scenery!
My husband and I have been married almost 1 1/2 years…we now have a blended family…and we had wanted to go to Nova Scotia or PE Island for our honeymoon. It became too expensive so we went to Maine instead…which was wonderful. But thank you for the pictures of the place we wanted to go! (However, Maine was wonderful and we met some wonderful people! One was a fisherman who delited us with three LIVE lobster as a wedding gift that my new hubby boiled for us in our little cabin! Your pictures of the kids and their experiences with lobster brought back memories!! I hadn’t had lobster before our Maine visit, either! It was ok, but I think I’ll stick with our midwest chicken!! OR the occasional HAMBURGER!!!)
Blessings to you!
Beth
How scary — I’m glad it wasn’t a fire! Thanks for posting all the beautiful pictures. God bless on your travels.