On {the Side of }the Road Again

Adventure #1 - Driving out of Buffalo Wyoming, we started having truck trouble.  All of a sudden, the ABS light and the emergency brake light came on, and the truck began to overheat.  We were unsure of what was happening, but we had to pull over on the very narrow berm.  It was impossible to turn around because it was only a two lane, curving road.  It was also a lovely, seven percent grade, making it impossible for us to go any farther up the hill without doing serious damage to the truck.  We sat for a while, and found that even our cell phone service was lacking.  It was a Saturday, and everything in Buffalo was closed for a big weekend rodeo and parade.  There was no help coming from that quarter!  I let the kids loose on the side of the road, and told them to stay up on the hillside next to the rock slide prevention fence (does that sound like a safe place to play?).

Paul began taking off the truck wheels, trying to ascertain which brake had locked up.  Thankfully, the first one he dismantled was the problem, and it was on the passenger side, so I didn't have to worry about him getting run over by a car!  He found that our tailpipe ( due to a hard Indiana winter) had rusted completely through.  The exhaust was blowing out the hole and onto the brake line.  It had melted the brake cable and fused the wires together, causing the brake to engage.  A good samaritan stopped and pulled our trailer back to town.  We limped back, and after some work, were able to get the brake unlocked and restart our journey.  The brakes locked up several times on the way, delaying the much-longed-for destination, but the Lord kept us safe.  We pulled into Farson around 11:00 pm.  It was a long day, and we were all glad to fall into bed.