Prisoner of hope makes a great slogan, however, some days remind me that hope is something you must commit to, you must chain yourself to.  Today was one of those days. We broke camp the night before since they were calling for rain.  But when I woke up there was no rain.  So I started a fire and made my coffee.  Happiness.  Because we did the hard work the night before, pulling out only required unplugging the electric and hitching up the truck.  Easy start…except the electric plug would not come out of the recepticle.  My husband tried and tried. I tried. He tried again, but it was stuck.  He worked to get it loose, but getting it loose also loosened the prongs.  If you are an RV owner, at this point you realize that this means that we potentially have no power for lights, water pump, air conditioning, refrigeration, etc.  This could be serious as we are driving West and the forecast is 100 degrees.

We drove to the local RV shop in full problem solving mode.  We met the nicest couple who ran the shop.  They were more than willing to help, except they didn’t have the part.  The owner called three other shops along our route.  They all had parts, but they were unwilling to install. Answers ranged from, “yeah, I have it but can’t work you in” to “I could get it done in a few weeks”. I could feel the stress bubbling up.  A repair man with no part, a part with no repair.  How far will we need to drive to get a part and then return to the only helpful human who would install it?  Why does a person with a part refuse to do a 10 minute repair?  How can keep my cool and choose to be hopeful that this will all work out? Am I capable of watching an online video and rewiring my electrical?

After checking a number of local hardware and retail stores, I re-called the one other rv sales offices as a last option before a long drive to get a part.  I got a girl on the phone who said,  “ our parts guy is out today..so I don’t know if we have what you need or not.  Sorry…..but…….. you can come look if you want.”  So we did! We found our own part and drove back to the only helpful human of the day.

As he was working, he told my husband that his two repair technicians were out sick and that he had several repairs for the day.  Yet, he took the time to help us.  Unscheduled.  And his charge was $36.00.  I hope he knows how grateful I am.  I hope he knows that I prayed over him. A blessing…a reminder to help when you can.

And so we were back on the road, albeit three hours later than intended.  A few planned stops were scrapped, but we still made it to Scouts Ranch to see the home of the legendary Buffalo Bill.  And then we trekked on toward Scottsbluff.  About Ogallala, I remembered that in the stress of the electrical issue, I forgot to flip the bypass switch when we hooked up the car.  This cuts of the battery to the truck when it is being towed to ensure that the battery is not drained.  At this point, we had been on the road for about four hours.  The knot in my stomach returned.  We had electric to the RV and potentially a dead truck. 

We decided to find a gas station to pull into as we needed gas and we needed to activate the battery bypass.  Except the RV was too big for the station.  We kept going, but the road became more remote.  I could feel the pull of worry…What if we can’t find gas? ….What if the truck doesn’t start?…..What if the electrical repair on the rv didn’t actually work?…..   And then,  I had to make a choice…. To turn off the voices in my head and just trust that it would all work out.

We found a gas station, the truck started, the electric worked.  Joy!  The RV park we arrived at was tiny and in disrepair.  The view out our door was of an abandoned swimming pool with broken concrete and half full of debris and weeds.  It smelled of sewer.  Despair.   The owner explained that they had made expensive repairs on the electrical boxes and were filling in the pool when a storm took the roof off of the building.  Funds had to be diverted to cover the expenses.  Hope differed.  Obstacles to be overcome.

After the long day, we decided we needed to treat ourselves to dinner out. Craft pizzas in a quirky and fun establishment.  We settle in and enjoy.  Because sitting out at the camper was not appealing, we took a walk and chanced upon a concert in the park.  The lawn chairs were still in the truck!  So classic rock with 1,000 strangers seemed like a great way to end the day.  Feeling silly, I yelled “Freebird” after every song.  It seemed like something that should happen. I have never been to a classic rock session without someone yelling freebird. After the day we had, I decided it should be me.

The lead singer announced that the next song would be the last.  I felt a little sad until…four notes lingered in the air and then a tune formed. Dah, Duh-duh, dah… Free bird, they actually played Freebird!  We danced and laughed, and ended our stressful day free as a bird.

Things just couldn’t be the same
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change
Oh, oh, oh, oh
And the bird you cannot change
And this bird, you cannot change