The Trip Begins (AGAIN)

Crazy summer....as stated in the previous post we'd had many car problems this year but we're assured the van was in good condition to make our 5,000 mile +/3 month trip.  We started out the end of June on a typically very warm day and made it to the Palm Springs area where we spent the afternoon visiting friends.  We then drove up to Idyllwild (in the mountains just south/west of Palm Springs).  After 'communing with nature' and resting up in the nice cool mountain air headed out on the remainder of our trip.  Next stop was to be Thousand Oaks where we were going to spend some time with hub's twin sister.  But that was not to happen!

(right to left) Hubs, moi, Dave
(hub's best friend from days gone by)

On our way down the mountain the van's engine light came on and the van started running rough.  We prayed our way into Riverside (the next larger city) and found a Hyundai dealership.  After checking the van out thoroughly and running a diagnostic on it they showed us a list just short of a 'mile long' of things that were wrong with it.  After doing some repair work, which set us back another $500, they told us we could make it back to Phoenix but did not recommend a trip like we had planned.  We took their advice and came home....not happy campers but thankful God had taken care of us.

Fern Valley Inn - Idyllwild, CA (this is where we stayed)

After arriving home we took it back to our mechanic and they insisted nothing was wrong.  If we would like to spend some more $$$$ they would be glad to fix something that didn't need to be fixed...Noooooooo, we don't think so we said.  Just to be safe we took it to another mechanic and were told the same thing our mechanic had told us.  VERY frustrating, to say the least.

Not feeling real comfortable about starting out again we decided to wait and see what the van did this summer....taking some trips of 200 miles and just driving around town.  No problems at all.  We feel comfortable now that we can take a 5 week trip with no problems hopefully.

Wednesday the 26th we will head out.  Please pray for safe travels.  We'll head back into California, through Riverside (we hope), and onto Thousand Oaks for our visit with hub's sister/husband.  Then we will head north to visit my brother in Oxnard.  We hope to spend a few days at Lake Cachuma (a popular family camping site when the kids were younger) and get into Solvang again (see earlier post from last summer to read the history of it).  By the first of next week we will head further north with details to be told at a later day.

Pray for us as we travel and that our health and van hold up.  Looking forward to sharing our travels, pictures, and thoughts as we go through this adventure.