Here We Are at Harambee 2010 !!!!!

I never expected to be able to blog from here. I was not aware there was internet access, then last night a girl told me that she had found a hot spot over by the gym. So here I am!

So coming to you LIVE FROM HARAMBEE 2010!

Day 1 Harambee:

I left home a little later than planned this morning. We were on the road by 9:00 am.


It was a bit nerve racking, at the beginning. I knew I needed my Tim Horton's Decaf Mocha Heavy on the Hot Chocolate to calm my nerves as I began my Maiden Voyage. My plan was to drive directly to Naramata with no side trips, since I had no clue how to get myself out of a backing up situation. So I versed Cassidy on what he was to buy me, gave him my Tim Card, and dropped him off on the highway in front of my coffee shop. The plan was for me to drive around the block once and pick him up on the return. It didn't work that way. Of course! When does anything happen simply?

I came around and he wasn't there, so I went around again. Then I decided to park on the side of the highway with my blinkers on. Soon enough I saw him coming with my delicious morning coffee. But when he arrived it looked like he had been attacked by the coffee! Seriously! The whipping cream was all over the lid, and streaming down the side and all over his hand. There was no way this coffee was going to calm my nerves. I would be trying to not get it everywhere. I asked him what happened? He told me the server had given him the coffee and the lid. She had not put the lid on. No kidding! It was way too tall for the cup and perhaps she didn't want to get covered in whipped cream? He being on the shy side, didn't want to say anything, so he did his best to get the lid on (her job) and in doing so had covered himself with whipped cream. I asked him to please go back and get a clean cup. He arrived back and the next girl had given him a clean lid.... Oh well. It still tasted good. Sticky, but good.

I had told the children that I needed them to be absolutely silent. I was really quite nervous. They are wonderful, amazing little travellers, and so I knew I would not have a problem. Sure enough, by 10:30 they were all sound asleep! I had played some relaxing children's songs, and one by one they had dropped off to rest time.


I was still nervous and paying very close attention to my driving. Every so often I would peel my fingers out of the grooves I had created on the steering wheel. (grin) We always pray before we travel and I truly believe in doing so! God is so good. I have a long list of issues where we were taken care of while driving. This last week is an example of that. I was driving home from town the night before I was to leave on a road trip to Mehaber and I heard a noise under my van. A few minutes later something came flying out from under it. We picked up the part, drove home, called Kal Tire (my favourite mechanics!) the next morning and asked them if they could fix it cause I was leaving the following day for Mehaber. They couldn't get the part until the following day, and so I would be late for my last camp. But wonderful service that they provide, they scrambled to get the part and had it fixed that same day, which meant I could leave on time. But you see, the point is, the problem came to light *before* my trip! It would have been a very expensive fix if we had kept on driving. As it was it was $500!

During my driving I just 'happened' to be looking out the window at the very moment something white and large went flying down the road. I was pretty certain I had not driven over something on the road, which meant it must have come from me. Thankfully, within a mile or so there was a rest stop. I pulled in there with the intent of turning around and going back for it - forgetting I was a trailer!

There were two cars there and I decided to run over and ask them if they knew if there was a rest stop to turn around in back in the direction I had come. We ended up talking and one of the men offered to drive me back to the plastic. In doing so I found out he was a 'city cop from Edmonton, as he called himself, and he said he liked to help people. He and his buddy, who was with his family, also, were ex-military buddies. I told him about my two boys and he was interested to hear. They were celebrating on holiday because in that very week he had had one child graduate college, one graduate highschool, and one get married! They were on a road trip to visit family. Well, I say they were angels in disguise! I found the vent and did not put it back on my van, thanked the families and then headed on my way.



I had been given advice to go this route as the other route took the Coquihalla and was considered a very fast freeway, and since I was new to driving, I decided to take the slower route. I had a wonderful drive. It was stressfree and I was feeling pretty good. The roads became quite countrylike, and there was a river on one side. Sometimes the roads were narrow and there were cliffs on the side, but overall, I figured I could handle it.



Then I suddenly came out of Merritt and entered the Coquihalla Connector. I had no clue about this road! It was a four lane road.I liked the four lanes, but I did not like the constant up and down climbs. The hills weren’t that steep, but they were constant. I was doing fine with it all, and I knew I had about 120 km to drive on it. Then the rain began. Seriously! I didn’t’ want to drive in rain my first time. Then it began to hail!

An Ominous Sky!

I got on this down hill road and it had a 6% grade. That would have been fine if the hill had stopped. But it didn’t stop. It kept on going. I had to totally think about how to slow down the trailer and the van, cause I didn’t want the trailer pushing me down this hill. So I kept trying to bring myself to about 60 km or even 50 on this steep slope. Then my van started vibrating whenever I put on the van brakes. The steering wheel would go nuts. I had to ease off the brakes, and use the manual slider for the trailer brakes. If I used no brakes and just coasted or used the gas, I was fine. So I knew it was probably my van. It was incredibly freaky. It was like driving with no brakes!

This ‘hill’ was over 20 km long without a brake. I passed a runaway lane and ignored it. By the time I passed my third one I was seriously considering taking it. I *had* to take a break from this constant running down hill.

Thankfully, right after this I came to an information booth and the road leveled out and I pulled in there. My legs were just shaking and they kept shaking for the next half hour! That was the Ride From Hell! The girl told me where Kal Tire was and I planned to see them. Some guys at the information booth thought it could have been my brakes were worn. Who knows! I headed down, got to Kal Tire and by then I was hearing a grinding noise where my van attached to the trailer. Ey Yi Yi!! Gone was my carefree, I can drive anywhere feeling!

At Kal Tire I poured out my story and asked if they could help me. They said they were all booked up today. I asked them if they could help me phone around and see if someone else could help me. They said yes. I told them I was going to the Adoption Camp for our Ethiopian girls and it was so important. Then I simply prayed silently: Please God!

Then after the guy left the room he came back in, and said, “What time is your camp tomorrow?” I answered him, and then he said, “I can let you spend the night in my parking lot, and then I can fix your van tomorrow morning at 8:00am.”

Oh the stress lifted off my shoulders! I had somewhere to stay safely, and they would look at my van the next day. Another guy came outside and helped us unhook the van from the trailer, and then very kindly backed up the trailer into a spot for the night. What gallant treatment! That is why I love Kal Tire!


I then loaded the kids back in the van and headed out to see if we could go to the movies, since we had our evening free. After I had gotten off that big hill my van started to act normal again, so I am not sure if my rotors are warped as Kal Tire suggested, or if they were getting too hot, as someone else suggested, or WHAT? But after this, I drove around all evening and I never had a braking problem again.

So then I headed to the movie cinema and saw there were basically two choices for movies: Toy Story 3D or another one I forget the name too. I didn’t really want to spend so much money on the 3D movie and I would have loved a movie *I* would also enjoy, so I ran into the movies and asked the guy about the alternate movie. I still couldn’t figure if it would be appropriate, so I figured I would use my computer and go online to www.pluggedinonline.com my *favourite* movie site. You can find out exactly what negative or positive content it has without spoiling the movie.

I see the manager and quickly give him a run down and ask if I can link up to his internet. He is run off his feet with franticness (short staffed?), but tells me to come into this room. Well, one minute later there I am, wishing Cassidy had my camera to get a picture for my blog. I am in the box office of the movie house using the managers computer, while he is beside me taking cash from movie patrons. What a hoot! I got the information I needed: The Last Airbender – was not appropriate; we would see Toy Story 3D instead.

Now, I needed to feed my children before I had to be back at the cinema in 45 minutes! Thankfully! I had seen a Little Caesars $5 medium pizza sign, when I drove into town. I dashed in that direction, parked, ran in, asked for two medium pizzas, and was ready to dash out, when the server did a very kind thing!

He reached into the warmer and grabbed a bag of cheese buns, added them to my pile, and told me, “You look like you have had a hard day. I’m going to give you this for free.” How incredibly kind!


My children could not believe I could run into a pizza store, and be back in the van in about 3 minutes flat *with pizzas in hand*. I told them – this is the big city! It was a hot pizza ready to go deal.

We dashed back to the cinemas had our dinner, packed our pockets with licorice, and then headed in to watch our movie. Well, as we sat there we heard French voices behind us. I explained to Raine that daddy’s family speaks French, also. She had never heard French before. I told her again. You are in the big city.


When our movie was done for the night, we grabbed a water bottle, headed to the gas station, filled it up, and then headed ‘home’ to Kal Tire for the night. We had a fair bit of work to do to make the inside inhabitable, since we had beach inflatables shoved in there, plus a bike, cooler, and many odds and ends.


In the end, the children all ended up in jammies, in bed, while Cassidy, my helper, jacked up the trailer and got it settled for the night.

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