I have always believed in angels, but on August 13th we discovered for ourselves just how wonderful they can be….and with perfect timing! Two incidents happened to us that day that were not anticipated at all. But God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good!
We picked up a rental car in Olympia, Washington, about one-thirty in the afternoon. Driving up Interstate Five was at a snail’s pace for the first hour, with very congested traffic. We handled that fine, but as we continued we could hear very loud noises coming from the right, front tire. Something was wrong, and Dan believed it was a brake problem. Since our destination was about five hours north into Canada, we decided we had better call the rental car company for a different vehicle.
Our call was answered in a timely fashion, and they told us to pull off on an exit and let them know where we were. As we took an exit in Kent, Washington, we drove into a motel parking lot. Two police cars were there, with some other travelers who had broken down. An officer came over, and as we explained our plight, he advised us to keep on moving down the road a little ways, because this place was not safe. We quickly left, and settled in a mall parking lot about two miles away.
The main problem was that it was Sunday, and all the dealerships are closed for the rentals except ones at the airport. We stayed in touch back and forth for about an hour with roadside assistance from the company, and then were told to proceed to the Seattle Airport to switch out for another car. We did so without any further incidents, with help from the phone GPS to show us directions. (We call her “Dottie”, and I’m not sure what we used to do without her!!) A great and helpful guy named Drew at the airport got us into a new car within minutes, so we once again were headed north. It was a sunny and beautiful day, and the scenery just got more amazing the further north we traveled. We had never been that far north, and the mountains and scenery was breathtaking.
Our trip went along smoothly until my phone was getting low on power. As I tried to plug it into the car charger, it would not connect. Absolutely nothing we tried would work. Dan has an older flip phone, but that would not help with directions. We knew we had to stay on Interstate Five all the way to Vancouver, British Columbia, as that was our destination. We didn’t have too many concerns until we crossed over the border into Canada and realized we then had no phone service of any kind.
We had an address and a phone number for our reserved motel for the night, but no directions in this large and foreign city. After stopping twice for some verbal directions, but to no avail because they did not make any sense or pan out, we spotted an A&W restaurant. Since we were hungry and frustrated, we decided to take a break. It was dark and almost nine o’clock by that time.
It felt good to get out of the car and enjoy the frosty cold root beer with our burgers while we pondered what to do next. A young Asian couple came in and sat near us eating. They were enjoying their conversation, and seemed calm and happy with the world around them. Unlike us at that particular moment! The more we watched them, suddenly we realized that maybe they could help us.
Dan asked them if they lived in Vancouver. The young man said he had been born and raised there. Then he asked if he could help us in some way! As we told them of our dilemma, he immediately opened his phone. He found directions to our motel, but asked if we realized it was twenty-five minutes away, because it was in north Vancouver! We told him that was no problem…(If he only knew we drive that far several times a week around home!!)
In just a few moments we had directions written down on an A&W napkin, and set out for a beautiful drive through the bustling metropolis. We had to travel through downtown Vancouver, and it seemed like every block was busier with cars and people out walking than the one before! We drove along tree lined parkways and over the huge Lionsgate Bridge. A few more curves, and stoplights, and there in front of us was our motel. A sight for sore and tired eyes!
As we sank into bed that night, we were so thankful for those “angels” that God had put in our path to help us through some “bumps” in the road that day! The next morning dawned bright and sunny, and with it a new week and more surprise adventures.
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