An Experience We Will Never Forget

I can’t say we’ve had many bad days this winter on our travels – or any, really. But yesterday was certainly a day that was trying to “go south,” as they say, even though technically we are making our ascent north. :-)

You’ve heard of the deep hills of West Virginia, right? Neither Vinny or I have ever been here, and there was a place north of Charleston we wanted to see on our way. It was originally my “find,” and I gave Vinny the directions as that is something he is really good at. But I woke up Sunday morning with second thoughts about going to this destination after all, and expressed my reservations. Vinny on the other hand had done the research on generally how to get there and he did not want to change course last minute, especially since we were almost there. I understood that, actually, (I am the same way), so we set off.

Now to say that the scenery wasn’t beautiful would be unfair. The roads we took wound through deep valleys and woods, going higher and higher into what felt like the clouds at times, overlooking steep rolling pastures and beautiful vistas. We lost count how many turns the GPS had us take, and then began to distrust it entirely when it took us over rickety bridges and tried to send us down wagon-trail paths with names like, “Tight Squeeze Road” and “Sandy Sinkhole Bottom Lane.”

The roads also got more and more narrow – so narrow they were impossible for “Big Herbie” (our small R.V.) to turn around in. To say I was nervous was an understatement. While Vinny drove up and down challenging and sharp switchbacks with both hands on the steering wheel, I was the “backseat driver,” literally crying like a baby, both hands gripping the passenger seat. Now Vinny is a great driver, don’t get me wrong, but I was having flashbacks of my time in Ecuador. Every day we took a road that was so narrow, and cliffs so high, that the bus driver had all of us stand on one side of the bus so it wouldn’t fall off the side. But that’s not the only reason I was nervous. When Vinny & I were camping out in town the night before, we rented, for some stupid reason, the movie “Mt. Everest.” Which proved to be the absolute worst movie to watch before all this.

Now we finally did (after a couple hours of death-defying driving) arrive to our destination, which sadly did not prove as exciting as we had hoped. It was soon after that things went really south. Big Herbie could not make it up a steep hill. The highway tires slid on the gravel, and the weight pulled it down. Vinny managed to back it into a small spot which then gave him the choice to try and get some momentum to maybe go back up, or go down further to see where the road went. I suggested down, and against his better judgement he did that. At the bottom of the hill is when we discovered that the road was deeply-rutted and washed out by a river. We were stuck. With no cell reception. In an isolated wilderness akin to something in a zombie movie (in my overly reactive imagination, anyway).

By hiking back up the hill a ways, we did manage to get one bar, and I called AAA. Several times. And they called several times. Apparently they, nor the local towing companies they called could find the road we were on, or it’s nearest cross road. We even gave them GPS coordinates.

Even 911 couldn’t find us. Finally we got a hold of a local sheriff who said he’d call a wrecker to come pull us up the road. It never came.

Meanwhile as we waited and watched the sun slowly setting behind the steep hillside, several life-forms passed us by on dirt bikes, dunebuggies. Even a few people on horses. Apparently this area has a different idea of “Sunday drives.” :-/

Finally we heard it. A tow truck that AAA sent! We could have kissed the skinny, young man that popped out of the door. We still don’t even know how he found us. Maybe he was an angel.

The Game is Over

Blame: (1) To find fault with (2) To hold responsible for something that is wrong or goes wrong. From a popular Latin variant of ecclesiastical Latin blasphemare ‘reproach, revile, blaspheme,’ from Greek blasphemien [Merriam-Webster Dictionary]

I have to say, that during the 5 or so hours we were stranded, both of us had plenty of time for quiet introspection and to battle our own initial frustrations, each in our own way. At various stages throughout this fiasco the temptation to cast blame on each other (or “scapegoat” one another) was very real. It could have gotten very, very ugly. But one thing we have been learning lately is that no one wins at the blame game, and the only ones that lose are the ones that try to play it. Do you remember back at the garden with the first humans? Adam blamed God for giving him Eve, and Eve blamed the devil? Many centuries later the world still has this tendency, and with such sad results.  Countless relationships have been destroyed and many violent wars have been fought. The fact is those who play the blame game will die by the same game, and neither one of us wanted to go there yesterday.

Later that evening after deciding to spoil ourselves with a hotel stay :-), we talked about it more. It became for us no insignificant thing that all this happened on Easter, a time for many to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Innocent one was the ultimate “scapegoat,” esteemed to be blameworthy and under God’s wrath. How did He react? He prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know now what they do.” Wow. Instead of being angry and vengeful towards humans for his totally unjust death, His gentle heart poured out to them grace and forgiveness. The cycle of blame was broken!

It took awhile for Vinny and I to get in a good place of articulating all this, but we are thankful that it didn’t go entirely to a bad place. This is truly an Easter we won’t ever forget!

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