Day 6 - Saying Goodbye and Saying Doh!

This morning we loaded the car and checked out of the hotel by 830am. We were excited to be ahead of schedule and we went to the entrance of the park one final time to take a picture of us all together. Just then we heard someone say, 'Hey, BC!' We turned and saw a young couple pointing out our licence plate. Turns out they were from BC too, and we had a neat talk with them as they were just arriving. They were kind enough to snap the picture for us and we did the same for them. Its always fun finding someone from your home land. Hee.

We parted ways and started the drive to Spokane. Sad to say goodbye to this area, its so pretty.


One of my favorite things we passed was this field full of sunflowers.


Isn't that amazing? So beautiful!


We were making great time and hit our lunch location right at noon. Unfortunately, it was closed on Sunday, oh well. So we asked a local and he pointed us in the direction of a nice place to eat. It was really cute and we had a yummy lunch.


The drive was smooth and going well for a few hours until Ken mentioned that the car felt like it was jerking a bit. Sure enough the speed started to decrease and we drifted to the side of the road. Doh! We turned on the hazard lights and looked at each other, not sure what to do next. After a few moments Ken got the car restarted and we got it going. Thankfully we were at an exit turn off for a gas station and food store. Thank you Lord! I couldn't imagine being on the highway with Ariel and a broken down car. Kinda scary, but we were totally blessed.

Ken went inside the gas station to get a phone book as I sat somewhat frazzled about what we were going to do next. The next town was about 9 miles from where we were, and we weren't sure if the car would make it there. We called a tow truck and waited. It was SOOOO HOT, and that didn't help us staying calm. It was frustrating because we couldn't get a hold of anyone back home and were kinda freaking out. At that point Ken started the car again and was driving around the parking lot and it seemed ok. So when the tow truck arrived, he said he would follow us to the town to make sure we made it.

He was nice enough to point us in direction of a mechanic in town that he highly recommended and a hotel across the street to check in at. After we paid him, we called our other reservation in Spokane and cancelled and checked in to the Broadway Inn. The sign then flashed it was 100 degrees! Yikes! I didn't think it was that hot but apparently it was and I couldn't wait to get inside our air conditioned room.


Sigh, this whole mess wasn't in our plans, but sometimes these things happen. Finally we connected with family back home and Ken's mom. At this point we can only sit and wait so we made the best of the evening. We ordered a pizza for dinner and Ariel was happy so that's all that mattered. Puppy was blowing on her pizza slice to cool it down. Hee. After dinner I took Ariel out to the pool for a swim and it was soooo refreshing. Then I hit the workout room to burn off some stress and that totally helped. Now we are hitting the hay early so we can rest up for all that lies ahead.


Tomorrow we will take the car in early and hopefully we can get an answer of what needs to be done so we can get on the road again. At this point we are thinking that we want to try and get to Spokane tomorrow night (its another 4 hours from here) and then do the remainder the following day, meaning we get home a day late. So please pray the car isn't something super major and that we can get home safely. I am really starting to miss home and dealing with the unknown is somewhat stressful but I know it will be ok, I just need to breath deep and trust.