May 11-14, 2009

Lovingston, Virginia and Moore, South Carolina

So much has happened that I've decided to divide last weeks' events into 2 posts.

In our last episode, we left the Bowen Family in Lovingston, Virginia at a motel where a mechanic, who the Sunday night pastor (Carroll Martin) had contacted, was coming to look at the motor home on Monday morning. Donnie, the mechanic, arrived, along with Jim Hall, and after looking over the engine a bit, said he needed to get some parts. He returned a little later saying he had a garage to take the motor home to where he could work better. So Bobby, Jim & Donnie left for the day and the children and I sat in the motel room...also for the day. I was so concerned about saving the food in the refrigerator that I neglected to remember the school books that were on the motor home before it left. So instead of using our books, we got creative because I couldn't waste a school day sitting in a closed up motel room in front of a TV. Thankfully, Bobby signed us up for www.time4learning.com which we use to supplement the children's learning. They like it because they can get on the computer and it's convenient for traveling. The motel we were in was small, with exterior entrances and hardly anyone else around so after the rain, they were able to play outside a little. Hope practiced counting numbers over 100 as she counted the steps from one end of our building to the other and Landis read brochures about the local attractions. Even though we didn't have our books, we were still able to knock out another school day.

There were some minor repairs done to the motor home like the tightening of gas lines and changing some filters and we were excited Monday evening to think that we were able to get by with such inexpensive repairs. But as we headed down the road to meet Jim and his wife, Shelvia for dinner, the motor home showed signs of sickness once again just before we reached the restaurant. Jim called Donnie again and after we had eaten, Donnie was able to come out to the restaurant and look at the motor home again. After listening to Bobby tell of the symptoms and after another test drive, it was determined that the motor home needed a new transmission. Another day in the motel in Lovingston and another day for the motor home to be in the shop.

On Tuesday morning Jim came back to our motel to take us on a field trip. I had wanted so badly to take the children to at least ONE of the many attractions in the area but because of the problems with the motor home, Bobby said it probably wouldn't work out. (You remember, we WERE going to drive back to Washington D.C.) But because the caterpillar was taking her own field trip to the repair shop, we were able to take advantage of the day and see some history. There were so many places to choose from but I had narrowed it down to 2 or 3. Walton's Mountain Museum would have been very interesting to me as I loved the TV show, but for the sake of the children, I decided to go to either the Luray Caverns or one of the Presidential homes in Charlottesville.

We arrived at Monticello, the home of President Thomas Jefferson, shortly after lunch but the crowd was so large that it would have been a 3 and a half hour wait for a tour of the house. We could have stayed and explored the rest of the plantation but it would have cost the same – and it wasn't cheap. So we opted for Ash Lawn, the home of President James Monroe. Here are a few facts we learned about James Monroe:

He was the 5^th President of the United States

He was the man holding the flag in this picture. He was not in political office at this time, but a soldier.

He was mentored by Thomas Jefferson and was a close neighbor to him. Also, their plantations are backed up to each other.

He held more political offices than any other man in history.

He passed away on the 4^th of July as did John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Ash Lawn proved to be an excellent choice as there were fewer visitors there so there was no waiting. It wasn't as big of a house and the plantation was inferior to Monticello, but it was a much more pleasant day as we felt we had learned some history, and not been pushed through a crowd to do so. It was much less expensive too. One of the most interesting things for all of us was the 250-year-old white oak in the front yard. Our tour guide said the circumference was 20 feet.

We returned to the hotel and Donnie gave us the good news. The caterpillar didn't need a transmission. Instead he changed the transmission fluid and filter. He also checked the spark plugs and even though Derick Luthe had changed them a week earlier, they were black and corroded. He said that had helped but there still was something wrong. Donnie was such a blessing to us. In spite of the fact that he couldn't solve the problem, he had time to spend looking for the problem and not charging much for it.

We were to sing on Wednesday night in Moore, South Carolina so that morning we left the motel early, carrying the children out in their pajamas and putting them back to bed...except Grace, of course. To disturb Grace in the morning hours and expect her to go back to sleep is like expecting your ice cream cone not to melt in July. Instead we got her dressed, put her in the wheelchair, fed her breakfast and turned the TV on. The other children slept a couple of more hours while I started blogging.

The motor home continued to run poorly all the way to South Carolina but we made it and we met Pastor Christopher Hale and his beautiful wife, Laura, for dinner that evening before church. They gave us directions to their church, Poplar Springs Baptist, and we enjoyed a quick but fun evening with the saints there.

We spent the night in the Wal Mart parking lot and the following morning after breakfast, I made my first visit to Wal Mart in over a week. Whew! I was starting to suffer symptoms of withdrawal. I think just spending the night in the parking lot relieved me of some of my symptoms. Very early in the afternoon we started the engine and set out for Lincolnton, North Carolina, a 60-minute drive. However, the caterpillar ran so poorly, Bobby found a mechanic instead, knowing we couldn't make it even an hour. When the mechanic took the cover off the engine inside the motor home, the heat was so great that the kids and I took the school books into the back half of the vehicle and shut the door. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh when I struggled with 4 children on 2 bunks in that little room. Grace lay kicking anyone who got near her, including me, and Faith had a hard time keeping herself out of mischief. It was hard for Landis and Hope to pay attention to lessons but at least we were cool. After about 2 hours, Bobby came to the back and announced that an agent from Enterprise was coming to pick him up and take him back to the office and that he would return as quickly as possible with a rental. He told me to grab only what we needed for the rest of the trip as we were downsizing to a mini van. I placed the most perishable food into the freezer, knowing they would remain cold in there even if the generator would be turned off for 24 hours.

It seems I can never get away from packing. Even after I spent hours packing for this trip, I still had to re-pack once we were actually in the midst of travels. I went with 1 color for each person trying to keep it at 1 pair of shoes for each of us but when all the luggage and equipment was placed outside the mini van waiting to be packed, I seriously wondered how in the world it was all going to fit along with Grace in the wheelchair. It was a sto-and-go so the back half of the van was flat and if Grace's chair was tilted all the way back, she just fit without her head touching the ceiling. With her brakes locked and everything else piled high and deep around her, she was pretty secure. Somehow it worked and when we got on the road, Bobby called Pastor Joey at Daystar Christian Center one more time to let him know we were on our way. He'd been keeping him informed of our status all afternoon so as not to spring any surprises on him at the last minute. We left Spartanburg at 5:45 and Laverne (our GPS) said we would arrive in Lincolnton, North Carolina at 6:45. The service started at 7:00. Would we, or would we not make it to the church on time? That is the question that will be answered in the next post. I've gotta get some sleep.