October 10, 2003

Road Trip - Day 6: Adventure!

First, before anything else, I have to say a great big THANK YOU! to those of you (family and friends) who are praying for us. We had a little adventure today. As we were leaving Cleveland for Niagara Falls this afternoon, Joel noticed an unusual sound coming from the car. I encouraged him to pull over and check it out, but all the gauges were showing normal and the car was driving fine, so he kept driving. An hour or so later, in Pennsylvania, a car pulled alongside us with a note in the driver's window saying we had a "Low rear tire." We pulled off at the next exit.

We didn't see a gas station anywhere, but I commented to Joel that if we had a leaky tire, we would need more than just an ordinary gas station. We drove for a mile or two down this mostly residential road, wondering if we would be able to find the assistance we needed when we happened upon a full service station! The guy running the station was really busy--it was 5 o'clock and lots of cars were pulling in for gas and he was there all alone. But he apologized and said he would get to it as soon as he could. Within 20 minutes or so, he had jacked up the van, pulled off the leaky tire, patched it, and put it back on. He only charged us $5, but Joel gave him a little more. We saw the whole event as Providential--from the people that let us know the tire was low, to finding a full service station so quickly that was still open, and with a garage capable of fixing our tire. So thanks for praying for us! God is good!

As for our activities today, Joel wanted to go to the Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland, but he had been told parts of it were not appropriate for young children. So he tracked down a library close to the museum, dropped us off so we could work on schoolwork, and he went on without us.

The Cleveland Public Library in the downtown area was enormous! We walked in this huge building and I asked for directions to the children's section. The guy at the information desk directed me to a building next door, which was equally huge. We went up to the fourth floor of the second building and found a very charming children's library. We located a table, and did our schoolwork for the next two hours. We had just finished and I was starting to assess their work when Joel called to say he was on his way to pick us up.

It was almost 2:30 by that time and we hadn't had lunch yet. We stumbled across a Hard Rock Cafe on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown, had a small lunch then got underway to a new city in a new state, once again.

We're really enjoying this trip. It's flying by and Joel and I are really tired, but we're doing great!

For the next three nights we will be staying in the Niagara Falls area.When we called to verify our hotel reservation, we learned that the hotel is on the Canadian side of the border.We were a little concerned there might be some delay getting across the border because of heightened security, but it took all of about 10 seconds. (That was a relief! They didn't even ask for identification!)

Also, since we will be staying in Canada for the next three nights, we may have difficulty keeping up with our blogs. Joel doesn't have Internet access in Canada. (Actually, he can get connected, but it probably costs a fortune, so we will be using the Internet as little as possible.)

Please don't stop praying for us! We love and miss you all!