Life is an Adventure

That’s my mantra lately. When so many things go wrong that I have to laugh to keep from crying… I try to remind myself of the quote I shared a few weeks ago.

“An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.” ~G.K. Chesterton

Life’s adventures are certainly not always what I would choose… nor what I particularly enjoy, but more than anything I am grateful that this summer’s adventures have not involved tragedy, only inconveniences.

On the next-to-last day of our 2-week road-trip we had planned to stop by a family camp that our former pastor had told us about in eastern Montana. We just had a few hours to spare but decided it would be nice to visit with our friends there and get in one service, as well as spend the last night of our vacation there.

The campground is located deep in the heart of ranch country. We drove 30 miles on a dirt road before we turned off on a farm road for the last 3 miles down in a picturesque hollow where the old-timey church campground is located. It is literally a sheep/cow pasture most of the year! It was so interesting to see the old buildings that had been built 50 or 70 years ago when the ranchers of earlier generations decided they wanted to have a campmeeting.

After we pulled onto the campground and Lyle began to try to decide where best to park the trailer, he realized that one of the trailer wheels had a bearing problem. The grease cap had come off, and the bearings were completely shot. It is my understanding that it’s not particularly a major repair if one has the proper parts. Which we didn’t. And did I mention that we were way out in the boonies?

It was Saturday afternoon, and 90 miles to the nearest city. All the parts places Lyle tried to call were closed until Monday. So we finally decided we had better leave the trailer there and go on home, as we were both due back to work on Monday. It was over 700 miles home, so we would have to wait until the next weekend to go back for the trailer.

During the week, Lyle was able to get the parts he needed. We took off work at noon on Friday to head back across Montana. Late that evening we began to notice lightning off in the distance, the direction we were traveling. That was not a good sign. You know the cow path farm road that was the last 3 miles or so into the campground? Well, when it rains, it becomes impassable. And sure enough, it rained… and the road turned to mud… so we couldn’t get in.

As much as we love to travel, a 1500-mile weekend trip is nothing to sneeze at… much less to pay for… so we decided that this time we should just stay until we could get in to fix the trailer. We drove another 90 miles on to Gillette, Wyoming where we have been cooling our heels for the last two days.

We received word that the road should be dry enough to traverse by tomorrow afternoon, so we are hopeful that we’ll be able to wrap up this adventure by Tuesday at the latest!