It is always a delightful relief–if one can get past thinking of all the things you might have forgotten–to get in the bus and be gone. This is only a small trip, about a fifth of the length of the last one, so things did seem much easier to get ready, but we still managed to forget a few food items, but no big deal.

Yesterday was full as we prepared. Dad, Mom, Joseph, Jesse, and Nathan were heavily involved in ITonRamp.com, and the rest of us all had our own responsibilities to prepare for leaving. This morning dawned early, and our goal was to leave at 7:30. It was actually about 8 when we left. As we drove down the street, we heard an odd noise. We weren’t making it very far. John got out and discovered we were dragging a stick, which shouldn’t have made that much noise, but anyway, the noise was gone, so we were set.

Temperatures and humidity were up today, and we decided to do an open-air ride until about lunchtime (so we wouldn’t have to run the generator), when we neared St. Louis and rain. We fired up the generator and turned on the air, not without event, though. For some reason, the circuit breaker on the generator had been tripped. So, we pulled over to reset it. After we were on our way again, the air was on for only about two minutes, and we lost power again. Puzzling! So, we pulled over and John discovered the reason. It was because the extension cord in the generator bay had shifted and shut the breaker off. Very odd. John moved the extension cord to another bay, and we were set. We were very grateful for the cool air! Most of us took naps, since sleep was on the short side last night.

Late afternoon, we were excited because it was going to work out for us to briefly see our friends, Dave and Liz, at a W-M in Indiana off the interstate. The call was made, and they hopped in their car and began driving. They arrived only a few minutes before us. What a delight it was to chat with them and eat dinner. We had a great time of fellowship in the bus. It seemed surreal to think that we were actually sitting in a W-M parking lot with our dear friends! What a blessing it was. After awhile, though, we had to say good-bye, because we needed to make it further tonight.

About twenty minutes after we left them, I had gone to grab what I would need to work on a blog post, when there was a loud explosion, and the truck next to us swerved back and forth as he struggled to maintain control over his truck. The noise was so dramatic, some thought we had been hit, but since we didn’t feel any impact, we knew that wasn’t the case. We immediately knew what was going on: one of the tires from the truck beside us had exploded. Debris from the shredded tire flew everywhere, and we think some of it hit the bus. Dad could see parts of the tire going everywhere in his rear view mirror. We are extremely grateful for the Lord’s protection over us and all the other drivers around; there could easily have been accidents and serious damage. In the meantime, the truck driver was able to pull safely off of the interstate.

We are stopped for the night outside of Columbus, Ohio, and we’ll drive the last 7 hours to Harrisburg tomorrow!

Sarah

“Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Colossians 1:11).