Well… we left the farm! That’s saying something. We hit the road, and stayed in one of our Thousand Trails membership campgrounds for three weeks. It was so nostalgic! (And much harder than it used to be, but that’s another story.) We just put Exodus (our rolling home) into storage for the very first time ever, for at least a month while we are staying in North Carolina at the mountain place. We will then be going back and forth from Exodus (our rolling home) to the mountain place (for Greg’s mom) and back (Rinse and Repeat) for the remainder of the summer. Since his Mom wants to come up here for the summer, we want to stay close, so no traveling afar— yet.
Let’s back up though— hitting the road was rough. Sitting in one place for over two years really took its toll on our home, and on our truck. It seems nothing works the same, or as well anymore. Both Exodus and Moses have aged. I guess that’s what happens when one stops moving, you go physically downhill— or at least they did. The moral of that story: Move it or lose it!
We realized just before our deadline to leave the farm, that Moses was not going to be up to the task of pulling our home up the mountain, at least not without investing even more money into him. And at 207k+ miles, we weren’t willing to invest “a few thousand” more. After a series of seemingly coincidental events, which we clearly recognized as signs from God— we needed a new leader for our entourage. We needed some new blood: younger, stronger, full of life, and raring to go.
If you read my last blog post, you already know that I killed Zippy. R.I.P. We both miss her dearly, and her death made it even more important that we needed a vehicle to at least meet some minimum criteria. Our three absolute minimum requirements for another vehicle were: (1) Must be new or at least newish and under full warranty; (2) Must get better gas (or diesel) mileage than Moses since it’s a daily driver and not just a tow vehicle; and (3) It needed to be able to park and maneuver in most any parking lot. (Remember, Moses is a long bed dually.) First, we strongly considered keeping Moses and getting a new car. But, we couldn’t stomach spending money on a new car payment not knowing how much life Moses truly had left in him, nor how much work was still to come to get him fully back up to snuff. I was pushing for it, but it didn’t feel right to Greg, so we decided against the car. Greg has been busting his butt, for the past month putting much time, money, blood, sweat, and tears (mostly my tears) trying to get Moses back up to snuff, because the fact is, a reliable truck capable of pulling our home is vital to our lifestyle, a second car is not. So… he continued investing in Moses, and we waited.
Then the closer we got to D-Day (as in Departure-Day with Moses pulling Exodus to our next adventure), the more Moses started acting out. Let me back up, less than two weeks prior to D-Day Greg took Moses to get over $1k worth of brand new tires. (It’s a dually, which means six brand new tires, not just four!) It “just so happened” that there was a Ford Dealer right next door to Discount Tire. While they were putting his new tires on, he walked over and what did they have sitting in their parking lot but a beautiful brand new, RED, short-bed, single-rear-wheel, four wheel drive, F350 STX. Which “just so happened” to meet all of our minimum criteria for a vehicle in general, and also met Greg’s criteria for a new truck (single-rear-wheel, short bed, & 4WD) and it was RED! (Newsflash— red is my favorite color. DUH!) But… Greg wasn’t there to buy a truck, he had just walked over to check them out and pass the time while they were installing the new tires on good ole Moses. At this point, we were truly hoping that Moses would be up to the task, at least for a little while longer. When Greg got home, he told me about the pretty red truck, but I didn’t think too much about it. A new truck is expensive, and Moses has got this! Or that’s what we both thought at the time.
As the days passed, Moses started having one too many “senior” moments. First, a “STOP SAFELY NOW” error message came on while I was driving, due to a bad sensor, and then on the Thursday, only four days before we were scheduled to leave for D-Day, this happened: I was driving Moses back to the Discount Tire to get the air in the tires adjusted for towing, instead of daily driving, and he stalled. He literally just cut off and outright died at a stop sign, and wouldn’t start back up. In. The. Middle. Of. A. Two. Lane. Country. Road.
I was already having a… not so great day, so suffice it to say that I was beside myself. But God. This is a bit of a story, but it’s so worth the telling. Sit back and allow me. God sent two angels in the form of terrific Godly men, who each stopped separately in their vehicles only minutes after I stalled, to help me. God was on the scene literally from the onset! They were able to push Moses (you heard that right, a huge heavy dually) out of the road for me. How? Well, it “just so happened” that he stalled at the top of a hill, and it “just so happened” that there was an empty gravel parking lot about fifty feet behind on the opposite side of the road. So I steered while they pushed and he coasted backwards, down the hill, and safely into the large empty parking area. By this point, my brain started clicking a wee bit more, and I remembered that this same thing had happened to Greg a couple years ago because he wasn’t using his authentic genuine original Ford Key. It was an anti-theft lockout type feature that caused Moses to stop and turn off, and it wouldn’t start back up until he used the original key. I saw on the dash a lock symbol when it had stalled so…. lightbulb! I was NOT using the genuine key. On my keychain was a copy.
I was in contact with Greg the entire time and he agreed with my assessment/theory. Greg had the genuine key in his possession, but he was at least twenty minutes away, and Moses was our only vehicle. I shared this with the two men God had sent to help me (angels in the flesh!) And listen to this, it “just so happened” that they BOTH offered to drive and pick up Greg and bring him back with the key! One of them had a more flexible schedule than the other, so he insisted on going. He got the address from me and hopped into his car to get Greg. I didn’t even have his phone number or anything! About forty-five minutes later he showed back up with Greg. He only stayed long enough to cheer with us when Greg put the key in and Moses started right up! Woohoo!!! He refused to take a dime from us, jumped in his car and drove off. That man was a gift sent straight from God. I truly and strongly felt like God was saying to me, “I heard you crying earlier, I know you are having a bad day. Just trust me. I’ve got this! You need a new truck, go get that red one.”
When Greg arrived, he felt the same way before I even said anything. “Let’s go check and see if that red truck is still there at the dealer, I think this is a sign from God.” We both suddenly realized that Moses needed to retire. He’s been and still is a great truck with a lot of life left in him, but we both realized that we needed to bite the bullet and let our car payment be on the truck that we truly need, not a second car that would be nice to have. Greg jumped in Moses and continued with me to the Discount Tire, and then we knew we were to go next door to the Ford Dealer, and see if the red truck was still there.
Well, I’m sure you are sick of hearing this, but sorry, I’m not sick of saying it! It “just so happened” that not only was that red truck still sitting there, it was the only F350 fully capable of pulling our home that was not a dually, at either that dealership or the other Ford dealership closer to the farm (which we also stopped at on the way back home that same day.) We wanted/needed a short-bed, single-rear-wheel, 4WD truck capable of pulling 20k lbs., so we could easily use it as both a daily driver as well as our tow vehicle. The next day was a Friday, and I had to drive into Greenville to see my Mom in her memory care facility for the last time before driving up to North Carolina, (I’ll still drive down and see her from NC, but not as often since now it’s 3 hours each way, instead of 1½ hours each way), but long story short (as if!) after a crazy busy day, I drove back, picked up Greg, we drove back 45 minutes to the Ford dealer, and by Friday night, we were the proud new owners of a new truck. Not just any truck. That same pretty red one that God had shown Greg a couple weeks before. Oh, and another blessing— we really hit it off with the finance guy, who was also a believer, and he threw in for no additional cost an extended warranty so our new truck is now covered bumper to bumper for 82 months/100,000 miles with GAP coverage as well. That gives us even more peace of mind, since we plan on this being our only vehicle for many, many, many years to come. Yet another gift from God.
Without further ado, meet Rambo (who you already saw on the top photo!):
The last one shows him towing Exodus. He came with all the towing bells & whistles included.
Pure Awesomeness!
We didn’t trade Moses in, over a certain mileage all you will get on a trade-in is wholesale value, and he’s worth so much more than that. So, we introduced him to Rambo, and they hit if off right away.
For the moment, we have Exodus and Moses in storage together (for the first time ever!) We are going to sell Moses, but for now we are keeping him with his buddy, so he still feels important. Speaking of selling, You want a great truck?! Moses is still a beast and we still love him.
He has Moses to keep him company, but for a limited time only!
Remember when I said above, that this time it was much harder than it used to be? Yeah, well, Exodus had a tire blowout only one mile before we reached our Thousand Trails campground. That was fun. NOT! Thankfully, Greg’s done this a time or two, or five! He’s an old pro.
Greg popped the spare on and we were back on the road in no time. Go Greg!
The point of this entire blog is simply to say, God is truly amazing. Every one of my “it just so happened” statements are said (or I should say written) in blatant sarcasm, because we don’t believe in coincidences. God orchestrated every single detail, and he came through much better than we could ever have hoped or imagined. The Bible promises that he uses everything for good, and always makes our paths straight. We can attest to that fact over and over. Not just because the Bible said so, but because God has proven it to us, time and again. That’s why we make it a point to never making any quick decisions, at least not big ones, if it doesn’t feel like the best/right decision to BOTH of us. That’s why we didn’t buy the sailboat that we both wanted, it simply didn’t feel right. Then I got cancer, so it’s a good thing! That’s why we didn’t buy the second car that I especially wanted, it didn’t feel right to Greg. Thank God! God knew we didn’t need the car, we needed a new truck! We both know from experience, that if it doesn’t feel right, God is either saying “No” or more often, “I’ve got something better for you. Just wait!”
Until next time, Happy Trails and Sunny Sails! – Pamela
