One wouldn’t think that we’d call our trip down to South Carolina a good one. We left around 9 AM and drove on without any complications until lunch time.
“Pam, let’s take the kids to the park and then you can go get some lunch. Kelly could go with you,” Dad said.
Mom nodded her head and started to look at the GPS, trying to figure out where it was taking us. She had set it to take us to Subway first, but something messed up and set it so we were going to the park. We wouldn’t know until later what a blessing it was.
“It’s right there Jason!” Mom yelled as she frantically pointed to the driveway.
Turning into the driveway, the kids started to bounce in their seats. We’d been in the car at least three hours by this point, so it was a welcome break for them. Our neighbors, the Kauffman’s, were also traveling with us, so they came with us for lunch and their kids played. After getting the kids settled at the park, Mrs. Kauffman, Mom and I left for the Subway we had seen at the TA station, which also happened to be a huge truck stop. We accidentally turned into the driveway for trucks first, so that was a little awkward getting out, but we figured it out. Mom and Mrs. Kauffman went inside and left me sitting in the car. I pulled out the camera and started videoing the traffic going by while making funny comments about it.
Suddenly, the battery died. The radio had been playing and just shut off. The gauges weren’t working anymore and everything in the car started beeping at once (okay…maybe not EVERYTHING. Sure seemed like it though). The moms came back out with the food and I told Mom what had happened. The first thing she did, to my surprise, was turn off the van.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” she said.
Out came the cellphones and the calls to the knights in shining armor started. I stood out in the middle of a parking space, playing the part of a damsel in distress I suppose. Before long, Mr. Kauffman showed up and started to jump our van. He left the cables on for several minutes, but it wouldn’t start. Finally, it got enough of a charge to get it back to the park. We drove about 2 miles to the park and as soon as we parked, it died again. This is when we knew it wasn’t the battery. No…it was the alternator.
We ate lunch and the kids continued to play. Dad and Mr. Kauffman replaced the battery in the car (or jumped it…I’m not sure which) enough so that we could drive it to an ACE hardware store. We got there and they started to replace the alternator. The kids and moms went to the ice cream place next door. It must have been surprising to see so many kids on a school day, so the lady thought we were a day care group. Laughing, Mom explained to her that we were just two homeschool families.
The knights in shining armor got the car fixed in about 45 minutes so as I’m writing this, we’re on the road again.
Blessing 1: The kids were at a park, instead of a grungy truck stop, when the battery died.
Blessing 2: The kids were at a park when it became obvious the alternator died.
Blessing 3: We went to get ice cream while the knights in shining armor fixed the van.
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