Olympia - Blogabond

after being with our seattle tribe, we headed further north to chimicum, port townsend and olympia to reconnect with some old friends and family. first stop was to see my aunt and uncle who live part time at a retirement aged "SKP." for those who may not be in the know, SKP is code for "escapee". cute, right? this is a community where seasoned travelers park their RV's, tell travel stories and enjoy community during pleasant months of the year.

if you have never been around the olympic peninsula, you may not know what you're missing. lush emerald green, mossy ,viney forests spill off cliffs into the ocean. absolute majesty! you can really get in touch with your inner hobbit there. as we careened down those rural highways, i was instantly taken back to the first time i traveled those breathtaking stretches twenty years earlier. i then fell in love with the pacific northwest and promised myself i would one day live there.

we pulled in to my aunt and uncles' place. the vibrant ratteling hum of the bus was silenced. we took in our surroundings. giant evergreens enveloped us, the crickets sang "aleluljah" in the dusk. we let out a collective sigh. even our bus just seemed happier out of the city. it takes a few days to let the adrenaline of city life lift off. my aunt and uncle generously allowed us to stay long enough to be soothed. my uncle is pretty much a blast. he loves a good joke and is really good at setting himself up to be the butt of any and all of them. my aunt easily won my kids over simply by keeping them well fed. they keep a cute loft in their home just for kids. hava considered staying there forever.

inbetween our kids being totally dotted over and us all being fed way too much by uncle "ham" and aunt "tia", we visited some of my oldest friends lief and anna and their daughter zinnia just down the road in port townsend. leif is one of the few people on the planet who can make me laugh so hard i cry. his beloved anna, is one of the finest personifications of holy spirit i can think of. she is warm, gracious, wise and has a laugh that echoes thoughout the room. we enjoyed a fine meal harvested from their garden and were entertained by a sponeous play ferformed by a troup led by zinnia.

our next stop was in olympia. after a beautiful trek through the peninsula, we planned to dine that nite with another old friend trixy, her husband matthias and their two young children. i called trix to let her know we were almost there. i told her our exact whereabouts, to which she said, "you're just down the road, i'll bet i could see your bus from here." this moment was precisely when our bus came to a suprise rumbeling halt. puzzled, keith turned the keys in the ignition again. nada. hmmmm......

we figured the ol' girl overheated from the hilly drive and didn't think much of it. i was excited to see trix and ran down the road to greet her. when a good ten minutes passed and i didnt hear the bus starting up, i knew something was up. keith had checked all of the obvious possible minor glitches. nothing was doing the trick. so there we were: our big 38 ft bus, bikes on the front, junk on top, van towed on the back stuck at the intersection, pretty much hogging up the whole narrow road. yikes! well, we put our little drama on hold long enough to enjoy a nourshing home made meal with the eichlers. we got caught up a bit while sam (their 5 year old son) and hava agreed upon a shotgun betrothal. soon we had to face the inevitable: our broken down home in the middle of the street.

what do you do in those moments when you don't know what to do? well i'll be honest, i have plenty of experience in what NOT to do. however, early on in this trip i was given some good perspective from a wise friend. we had a major set back involving our engine which had the potential to be disasterous. her response to our scary situation was simple: "wow! i wonder what God is going to do in this situation...there must be a divine appointment with the mechanic!" (um,.... yeah! exactly what i was thinking! ha.) everyone ought to be so blessed to have a "jill" in their life speaking faith into every situation.

that exchange reminded us that whenever a trial comes our way, we have some pretty important decisions to make. it is an opportunity to see what we are putting our trust in.
am i going to become afraid stressed and/or angry, or am i going to trust in god's faithfulness? he desires to be with us and help us through whatever situation. we decided to trust god, and believe it would be all be ok. i reminded my soul that it didn't have to work hard trying to figure out every possible problem and solution. god was not caught off guard by this. why not go ahead and believe that he'll come through just like he always has before?

keith was on the phone with tripple A trying to locate a tow company equipped to tow something as big as us. by this time most of the neighbors were understandably becoming quite curious. soon we were surrounded. a kind woman came out to ask if we were ok, and if she could do anything. she helped the tow truck drivers on the phone with directions and invited the kids over to play on the tree swing in her yard. another girl from across the street stopped by to tell us that, "we rocked,and that she was stoked that we broke down there." she then got busy calling her friends to tell them about it.

i was releieved that we did seem to pick an ideal place to break down,if there ever was one. (thank you olympia--we love you too!) in the wee hours of the morning, a tow truck finally arrived. in and out of sleep i heard the guys dinking around with the bus. a short time later, the sweet reassuring vegified purr of the engine. it never sounded so sweet. they were able to jimmy-rig fix the starter and we were up and running! this would not be last time that what started out looking like a set back ended up being a set up. stay tuned. i will be sharing a few more set-up stories of even greater magnitude just a few miles down the road.

written by

firebynite on December 2, 2010 from Olympia, United States

from the travel blog: super vegi-matic bus travels

tagged ANNA, Olympia, Trixy, Leif, Ham and Tia

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thank you olympia! (we love you too!)

Olympia, United States

Heading South?