Day 12 - Final Report
WE DID IT!!!
WE DROVE THERE AND BACK
Final stretch to home 386 miles. Total direct map miles per Google Maps for the trip 4,821. Total miles per Old Henry's odometer 5,093.
Today was a most pleasant day. Spent the morning in church with my daughter, her husband, and 5 cute little energetic girls. On the freeway all the way home through many rain and hail storms. Grooved concrete surfaces so a lot of "bias-ply boogie".
Sure had a more dramatic welcome back to Utah than I got arriving in Alaska or Skagway. Just after crossing the border into Utah, this scene greeted us:
Yes, a full rainbow clear across the road to drive under, although we never quite got to it to drive under it.
Now I have to tell you why I will always refer to this trip as the one I drove the "Miracle Miles". Here's why:
I drive this car every day and do a road trip per month totaling about 1,000 miles per month on average. There isn't a month goes by that something doesn't break or wear out that I have to spend a few hours repairing or replacing. So, logically, since I was going to be driving 5 months worth of miles in 11 days, it makes sense that I would have at least 5 breakdowns that would take at least an hour each to fix. Right? So, how many did I have? ZERO! I stopped once to balance the back tires, which I don't call a breakdown, and adjusted the vacuum brake on the distributor. Again, not really a breakdown. Then, had to tap my generator with a hammer once to fix it. Also, not a breakdown. So, in my opinion, this trip was a complete miracle.
Driving along I spent a lot of time pondering why I had absolutely no major mechanical problems on this trip of over 5,000 miles in 12 days. This is the conclusion that I reached that you can believe or not. I believe it.
In the musical "Fiddler on the Roof", after listing all of the blessings for so many things, the Rabbi is asked, "Is there a blessing for the Tsar?" He responds that there is. Well, if there is a blessing for the Tsar, I believe that there is also a blessing for a flathead, especially if it's on the Lord's errand. "So, are you saying Old Henry was on the Lord's errand??" Yes, this is one additional agenda that we had for the trip related to the picture of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the sides of the car that I have not previously mentioned. Everyplace we stopped and people came up to talk about the car they often asked about the picture which led to a discussion about spiritual things and additional scriptures that further testify that Jesus Christ was who and what He said He was. Many of those people developed additional interest to the point of taking a copy of those additional scriptures and/or a CD of the choir singing. In a way, I felt like Johnny Appleseed planting seeds of faith along the way. It was just one more service that we were performing in addition to reporting the trip to all of you that gave that good feeling to us as the givers and you as the receivers. I believe that Old Henry, and all of us, were blessed with such a safe and uneventful trip in part because of the service we were rendering along the way. Believe what you like but that's how I see it.
"Hey, Ol Ron, way back there in the back, can you hear me? The answer is YES, we are there yet. Get out and go home. Thanks for riding."
