We had planned to be back on the road tomorrow, headed for a few days of camping at Great Sand Dunes National Park with friends. Then we heard back from the dealer who is performing the warranty work on our trailer. He (his name is Diesel) (no, I didn't make that up) said scary things about the suspension. I don't know much about vehicles at all so I mostly heard, "wuahwaaahwutwaahhhh" interspersed with "welding" and "put it on a flatbed trailer and send it to Indiana to be completely replaced," which is the point where I switched to thinking about unicorns and hot tea to avoid passing out. Since this now looked to be a manufacturer's issue, it turned out we would have to wait a day or two to know what the future of our journey might hold. I was hoping it did not hold Indiana. Indiana was not ever part of the plan. We have no bucket list items in Indiana. Don't they major in corn there? We weren't even going to drive through.
So that is where the sitting still comes in. Are we here for a few more days or a few more weeks? Should we drive somewhere else? It's too early to hike any 14ers and too late to ski (not that I ski). Most of the other Colorado attractions we had in mind are a solid six hours away and we hate to wear out our welcome here with our friends. I could blog. I have three other decent blog posts up my sleeves, but they are only fun with the photos and I can't process or load them without Rock One (our main computer), which is in the trailer. At the dealer. With Diesel and his excellent crew working underneath it. Criminy.
We did a lot of school work. I reread a great book. We took the kids to the Compassion International headquarters for the tour (blog post coming) and enjoyed the deer that hang around (other blog post coming). I trimmed Kristin's bangs without drawing blood (yet another blog post). And God has provided other little fun diversions like a coyote and snow and a pair of alpacas getting a ride in a Suburban. Maybe the best was my two hour phone chat with a friend, who helped me remember where we are aiming with our educational goals for this trip and why (once again) I need to take a deep breath and relax about the books.
So as of this morning I am pleased to report that the worst-case scenario on the trailer, the one where Indiana was prominently featured, is highly unlikely at this point, the chassis is fine, and this delay will probably turn out to be short. And after those deep breaths and the forced sitting still, I am letting God reorient my thoughts and my aims and help me appreciate the down time. Because I needed it. I needed to spend time writing and dreaming and brainstorming and handing it all to Him. His plans are always better.
Anyway, He made Indiana. It's probably a pretty cool place.
-Jenni