Our 1st Vancation

 We finally got everything working! When we first got the van the previous owner (let’s call him Louis) told us that the bed works and that the van could get him from point A to point B. That’s all Louis knew.  He didn’t know if the sink, toilet, shower, refrigerator, or A/C worked. We ended up ripping out the ugly carpet and pulling down the curtains. We laid down our own floors and sewed our own curtains. We insulated the van so we could stay warm and we made sure that everything worked. Finally after all that work we were ready for our first real vancation.

 

We decided to go to Escalante, Utah to hike and repel. We went with family and caravanned there (my family usually caravans just in case anything happens to one of the vehicles). We also like getting out together and playing at parks and eating lunch together. We did go to a park together this trip and it was fun until Josiah hurt his shoulder really bad, we aren’t sure if it is a broken or sprained but either way, he can’t use his right arm much at all. I made him a sling out of a blanket (thankfully I was a Webelo’s leader so I kind of knew what I was doing) Even with limited arm ability, he still could drive and at least the van was doing really well for the first 100 miles or so. We sometimes had to go slow up hills but we thought we could make it. Then on one big hill our van just had enough. I think the van said, “I might be a grandpa, but I’m not your grandpa” (my grandpa walks more than a 20 year old woman who just bought a Fitbit).

So the old gramp stopped right in the middle of the road on a hill with a curve right in front and a curve right behind and a bit of a cliff on the side, needless to say, the other drivers were upset and had a very hard time going around us without hitting each other. We sort of tried to direct traffic and thankfully no one hit anyone else. While the women were trying to direct traffic, the men were trying to tow the van out of the middle of the road. It was actually pretty funny to see such a little car try to pull such a big van. The old gramp was very stubborn and he didn’t move an inch! After that fiasco though someone driving a truck stopped and they towed us out of the middle of the road. That was a huge blessing because if it had gotten dark before we were towed to the side then I am sure we would have gotten hit or there would have been a crash from people going in the wrong lane trying to get around us. 

Once we were out of the middle of the road, we called a tow truck to come get us and take us to a mechanic. Two guys showed up with a truck and trailer and started to get our van onto the trailer. I was next to the trailer holding Kat and her carseat and thought, “if this van falls off this trailer then we are going to die.” 😂so I moved away from the trailer and moved to be right next to the truck. Kat and I were watching as the van was getting more and more onto the trailer via a rope pulling it from the truck when all of the sudden the van decided he was sick and tired of being pulled onto the truck by this rope and that he was going to pull the truck back instead of getting pulled forward! The truck starts moving backwards and I drop the car seat and run! One of the towing guys runs to the truck (while using many words that my daughter has hopefully never heard) and puts on the emergency brake to stop the van from pulling the truck down the hill! It was so scary! When I went to get Kat’s car seat that I dropped, I noticed it was mere inches away from the truck’s tire tracks and I’m glad I ran when I did. 

We got the van on the trailer and went to a mechanic. We got there around 10pm so we just slept in our van at the mechanic. It wasn’t the prettiest of places to sleep, but it was much better than the middle of the road so I’m thankful for that. In the morning, my family, that we were caravaning with, took Josiah home and he got our car. 

While Josiah was away, Kat and I stayed in Escalante, we found a park and a splash pad and we actually had a lot of fun. I’ve been trying to teach Kat her colors and the splash pad had many different colored poles that sprayed water. I would yell, “run to the red pole” or “run to the yellow pole” and she thought that was really fun. I was also running with her so I’m going to count that as my long run for this weekend 😂

Josiah didn’t get back to Escalante until 8pm so we just slept another night in Escalante. We figured we would pack everything up in the morning and then go hiking somewhere on the way home. We packed everything crazy tight into our Honda Prius and I have to say I’m impressed by the amount of room there is in this car. We got everything from our van into our Prius!  After everything was nice and packed we realized that one of our tired had a hole in it and it was a big hole! We need to jack our car, take the tire off, patch it, and put the tire back on, so we unloaded everything (our jack was under everything) fixed our tire, loaded everything back up, cancelled our plan to hike, and left Escalante as quickly as we could. 

I feel like I learned a lot during this trip. 

1. I learned how to fix a flat tire, I have watched people do it before but I had to do most of the work this time because of Josiah’s bum arm. I now feel confident that I could change or fix a tire if I needed to in my own. 
2. Bike helmets are a must! Always wear a bike helmet! The only ways that I could get around when Kat and I were alone in Escalante were walking and using Josiah’s big bike. I thought I could ride his bike but I ended up falling over when Kat was on it. I felt absolutely terrible for letting that happen, but because she was wearing a helmet she was fine. I looked all around her and I didn’t see a single scratch. I think God was watching over us. 
3. Even if you see a man doing a “manly” thing, it is still nice to ask if they need any help. When I was changing the tire I heard a couple of men talking to each other about whether or not they should ask me if I need any help. Their consensus was that because Josiah was close to me, I didn’t need help. They were right, I didn’t need their help, but what if only Josiah was there? Would no one have asked him if he needs any help because he is a man and “should” be able to change a tire. That definitely made me want to always ask people if they need help because I don’t know if they have a broken bone that I can’t see. 
4. The final take away from this trip is that life is good. I got to spend time with my family. I got to play at multiple different parks. I got to see beautiful mountains. I got to learn new things. And when we were coming home from Escalante I got to see the temple. Life is good. 
   
   
   
5.