My greatest fear, realized

As many of you heard already, the van broke down today on the side of the road in New Mexico. I was on my way from Amarillo, Texas to Taos, NM, cruising along using the cruise control and the van just stopped accelerating. I took it off cruise control but the accelerator didn't work either. First thought: "God, please show me your will for me and give me the power to carry that out." Second thought/feeling: "I'm scared and want to cry." First action: call roadside assistance.

Long, dramatic story short, the thing I was the most scared of happening on this trip - the van breaking down on the side of the road in the desert - happened and I DIDN'T DIE! AND I got a swanky hotel at the Sante Fe Hyatt Place to boot!

Another couple of pluses - I got to take pics of the scenery on the drive into Santa Fe. And as the tow truck driver Steve said, "You're getting really good gas mileage right now!" (I suspect he's used that line before). My friend Shamila suggested I take selfies at the scene of the van breakdown, and make a video of the ride to Sante Fe with commentary and end it with a prayer so I could cherish this memory forever. I did (no selfie, but pics of the scene/scenery).

THANK YOU * THANK YOU * THANK YOU * to all of you who prayed for me and reached out to me. I am so blessed.

This is what the Oasis RV park in Amarillo looked like mid-morning after most of the people left. Big difference from last night!

Scenery on the drive before the breakdown. I was mostly looking at the sky and the outline of the horizon. In the one with the sign to Las Vegas (NM)/Pastura there a horses just grazing there by the side of the road! I told a couple of friends today that a lot of the scenery I saw today reminded me of the Westerns that I used to watch as a kid!

This was the scene from the van as I was waiting for the tow truck to arrive. It was really sunny some of the time, and really cloudy other times. It started raining right after the van got loaded onto the truck.

Steve loads the van onto the tow truck. He just became a grandpa for the 12th time this a.m. Little Shaylee was born 4 weeks early weighing 5 pounds, but scoring 9 on the APGAR scale!

And here is a blessing...I got to take pics (without taking my life into my hands) of the scenery on the drive to Santa Fe. 1). I love that cloud formation! 2). This is called Starvation Point (according to Steve). The story goes that either the cowboys or the Indians (his words, not mine) got stranded at the top and were starved to death as their enemy waited them out at the bottom. 3). Sorry I don't know how to rotate that beautiful pic of the sky! 4). Incredible sky! 5). My favorite of all of these. 6). I meant to post a pic a few days ago with the rays streaming down like this, but I can't remember if I did or not. If I did forgive me for repeating, but every time I see the sun's rays streaming like this, the only memory I have from catechism comes up - the catechism story books showed rays of sun streaming down to depict God speaking to someone, so I always think, "God's talking to someone up ahead!" when I see that. Or, God's blessing is raining down on someone. Or, if I'm headed in that direction, God is laying down blessings for me for when I arrive. I chose to believe the latter today! 7). Incredible mountains! Incredible clouds! Incredible sky! 8-11) rain pouring down in the distance (something we don't get to see in CT, unless we're looking out over the ocean, that is).

 BONUS!!! My swanky room at the Santa Fe Hyatt Place! Can you tell I have hi speed internet access??