I told about the first part of our trip on Monday. You can read part one here.
I had mentioned earlier that my husband had come in contact with poison ivy, as he was attempting to fix our water before we left. Most people would be able to wash off and be okay after a brief contact with a poison ivy plant. Not my husband. He is highly allergic to that plant. So much, that he normally needs to go to a doctor to get a steroid and antibiotic for it. This would be a problem since we were moving cross country and needed to get on the road. By the first night, his one arm was covered. It was pretty nasty looking and caused him great discomfort. By the next day, he was absolutely miserable. We were putting over the counter itch medicine and several other ointments on it. It didn’t get any better, just kept spreading and getting worse.
As this point, we were entering St. Louis, MO. We had already traveled through parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. It was nearing lunch time as we passed The Arch of St. Louis. We stopped at a wonderful BBQ joint that had been on The Food Network. Since we had 2 sick kids and my husband was not feeling well, we decided to head on to get as many miles as we could, towards our destination. When you are traveling with 2 sick kids (in my van) and a husband/dad (in my son’s vehicle), it makes for a very long drive.
We finally made it to our destination for that evening in Independence, MO. We were all tired and worn out from the drive. We did take the kids to the pool to swim for about an hour, but then it was back to the room, baths and a little t.v. before bedtime. Other than those who were sick, this was actually our less adventuress day. I was very thankful for that. We were able to eat breakfast at the hotel and then get on the road knowing that we would be leaving MO and entering Kansas. We were leaving the city and was heading to the open road.
Things were going pretty well as we were driving along through the farm fields of Kansas. We had just left a stop where we got gas and some goodies for the road trip. We had to make a slight detour to an auto parts store for a gas cap. My son’s was lost at the previous stop. About 30 minutes or so had passed and a couple of my kids had to take a potty break. Thankfully, there was a rest stop just ahead. I had gotten out to take the two younger kids to the bathroom when my oldest daughter came running over. Apparently the van had lost all of the water from its radiator. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse. Then it happens. A fan on our van broke and in the process poked a hole in the radiator. So we are sitting at a rest area in the middle of Kansas with it 90+ degrees, 2 sick kids, a hubby covered in poison ivy with a vehicle that won’t work. Yeah, just when I think things couldn’t get any worse. I sent out another prayer request plea to some friends and immediately pray myself and this is what comes to my mind:
Deuteronomy 31:6
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
God knew what was going to happen and had everything under control. You see, my husband can fix near about anything. He has always worked on all of our vehicles. In fact, he had replaced that radiator a couple of months ago. We had also just left a town where there was an auto parts store, that just happened to of had a radiator to fit our van. We were also at a rest area that had snack/drink machines and we had bottled water and snacks in the van. This rest area also had picnic tables with covered shelters, underneath trees. God had even blessed us with a nice breeze.
While the kids, our dog and I waited at one of the covered picnic tables, my husband and oldest son headed back to the auto parts store. Which meant they had to go to the next exit, turn around and head back. This took about an hour to do. They finally made it back and within just a few minutes, had the new radiator on and we were once again on our way to Colorado. With all the excitement that we had, we decided to find a hotel in Russell, KS and just get some rest. It had been a long day, we still had sick kids and my husband was still not feeling well with the poison ivy spreading.
Thankfully we were 2/3 of the way to Colorado and there was an end in sight. God was with us the whole way. Stop by on Friday and see the ending of our cross country move.