On The Way Home!

When we went out to the car the next morning, our donut spare was flat! We would not be able to drive somewhere to get it fix. Thankfully, Little Bear was still there at the Hostel and offered to take us to get a new tire. I don’t know what we would have done without her! When we got to the Walmart, we found that it did not have a Tire Center. Little Bear did a search on her phone and found a tire store not far from the Walmart.

The donut spare only fits on the back tire position. Since the original flat had been one of the front tires, Bud had to put the donut spare on the back and move the good tire to the front when he had the flat. When he put the new tire he had just purchased on the car, he had to move the older tire up front and put the new tire on the back! The car slid off the jack while he was doing that. I wasn’t there at the time. Thankfully, no one was hurt!

Finally, we were on our way, facing a 13 hour drive home! When we do long-distance trips, Bud and I usually drive for 2 hours at a time, and then switch to give the other driver a break. We didn’t stop much, except to buy gas, make a potty stop or switch drivers. We did stop at Waffle House for a meal, and I think it was close to Knoxville. I was a little nervous about that.

When we were just outside Little Rock, AR, traffic slowed to a crawl! At times, we were just sitting there for long periods of time without moving at all! Our dear neighbor had been taking care of the chickens and cat. I can’t tell you how much I love this dear neighbor and friend. She has been dealing with her own family emergencies, but she agreed to hold down the fort for us while Bud came to pick me up. We called her to let her know we would definitely be home in time to let the chickens out in the morning, but that we were stuck in traffic. She looked up the news online and was able to find out that earlier in the day, and 18 wheeler crossed the median and slammed head-on into a Fed-Ex truck. Three people were killed. My neighbor was speculating that if we had not been delayed leaving Erwin, we might have been US who died in the accident. I always believe that things happen for a reason, and my mind always goes in this direction when we are delayed for some reason. I have no doubt God was watching over Bud and us the entire way there and back.

We sat in traffic for 3 1/2 hours! Finally, things eased up and we were on our way. We didn’t arrive home until 2:30 a.m.! We were both beat. It’s amazing how driving or sitting in a car can wear you out so much!

I can’t tell you how good it was to walk into my home again. Bud had spent time cleaning it up before he left, and my little home looked and felt so cozy! Grace was very happy to see me, and warmed up to me immediately. She sniffed me a lot first! There was a pleasant aroma of wood stove smoke hanging in the air, and I couldn’t wait to light it the next morning.

I have another blog post waiting to come out of my fingertips about my time here at home. Believe it or not, I’ve been really busy and haven’t had much of a chance to even get on my computer! I have hardly sat down the entire time I’ve been home.

I’ll post another blog post later today or tomorrow morning!

Contentedly,

Rebound