Day 1

Today, both our spirits and our equipment were tested. I am happy to say that even though our equipment failed, our spirits did not waver. We started up the Blue Ridge Parkway in our trusty truck with our faithful dog. We pulled off at an overlook and noticed that our engine was smoking. As we got closer, we realized that our overflow tank for radiator fluid was in a rolling boil and spilling onto the hot engine causing steam. We looked at each other and thought... "hummm"
Just then, two Harley Davidson guys drove by and we kinda waved as they came to a screeching halt and pulled over to help us out. They were middle aged, white haired very kind men. They started looking at our engine and told us our thermostat was broken and we needed to let it cool and take it to the mechanic. Then, they went on their way.

We looked at each other again and started discussing what in the world to do. A few minutes later, they came back and told us that they would just take the thermostat out for us and that we didn't really need it in any case. So, they did! When they took it out, they figured out that the thermostat was closed, causing part of the problem. We talked with them for a while and found out that one of them had 2 daughters and the other had 4 daughters! They were so kind to us and told us how it all worked and they were very encouraging. We gave them each a necklace from Africa as a thank you and they were on their way again.

We drove back down the mountain and called Brian who came up and put in our new thermostat. So, all in all it was good. We broke down in the afternoon and three hours and eleven dollars later, we were on our way.

We headed back up the mountain and found a camping site. We stayed the night and did alright.

Praise the Lord for His provisions! He was with us the whole way!