It was the summer of 2012. We had loaded up our full size van (the custom kind with the pop top. Looked pretty dated, but all the kids around thought it was awesome). We were headed on a huge summer adventure. We would hit 3 different family reunions and travel from our home in New Mexico down to Carlsbad beach in Southern California and then all the way up north to a state park in the tip top of Idaho. It was going to be a trip to remember. Because we were going to be doing lots of camping (and you basically have to pack the equivalent of a small home when you camp, especially with a family of 7) we decided to tote our truck bed trailer behind us to carry the gear. This would give us more space in the van and also enable us to bring some of the camping luxuries. As we headed down the road we had no idea of the miracle that the truck bed trailer would also give us. Off we went.
The first part of the trip down south was wonderful. I mean, how can beach camping be anything but wonderful? Literally, we could hear the ocean as we settled down at night. Then it was time for the long haul, the 24+ hour journey up to Idaho. We were moving along making good time. Sean and I weren’t too tired and the kids were sleeping in the back, so we just kept on trucking. Through the night and into the wee hours of the morning we drove until we both needed a little shut eye. We pulled over at a rest stop in Wyoming and caught a few Z’s. It was only a few hours before we felt rested enough to get back on the road. We needed gas so we stopped at a tiny little town in Montana to fuel up. By “town” I mean a gas station with a few old houses nearby. I don’t even think there was a fast food joint.
We pulled up to the tank and heard a *thud*. We filled up and Sean took a look at the trailer and immediately noticed something was wrong. This was a homemade trailer (not by us, but was given to us). The bearings in the rear axle had blown apart so the wheels wouldn’t turn. That’s basically car-talk for “things weren’t looking good.” We got back in the car wanting to move off to the side as we tried to figure out what to do. As Sean put the car in the drive and began to move forward we felt a thump as we ripped the trailer completely off the axle. The trailer was toast!
Now, here was the situation we were facing: we couldn’t even move the trailer now, so we had to figure out some way to tow it as well as a place to tow it to. It simply was not worth enough to fix and we didn’t have time to wait for it to be fixed. The biggest small town was at least 25-30 miles away and the next major city was significantly farther. It was going to cost hundreds just to move the stinkin’ thing. And then we were faced with the dilemma of all our stuff. Remember all the extra stuff we brought because we had room? Well, now we had to figure a way to cram ALL of that into our already full van for the next two and half weeks and hundreds of miles of traveling. Ugh!! I have to admit the idea of throwing all our stuff into our van and sneaking off leaving the trailer there crossed our mind…for the briefest of moments…HA!
Our trailer would most likely be stuck in front of the gas pump for a few hours so Sean went inside the gas station to explain the situation when a man piped up.
“You need to move that trailer? My brother has a place right down the road. He can probably help you out.”
He made a call, and within 20 minutes down the little road behind the gas station chugs along a forklift that this brother just happened to own. The man and his brother secure our trailer and lift it up in the air and chug right back down that road less than a quarter of a mile to their house. As we talked he also mentioned that he happened to have a truck bed trailer. It was the last one left of a bunch of 6 or 7 that he had fixed up and sold within the last couple of years. As we pulled up to the house there in the yard was a blue truck bed trailer. It was only a little smaller, but also a little nicer than ours.
“You can have it for $75. I never got around to getting the lights hooked up right, but I have these portable ones you can have too.”
Our jaws dropped! So we can move our trailer, leave it here, pick up this better trailer and be on our way with just a couple hour delay for a grand total of $75?? Um, yes! He helped Sean move our gear hooks from our trailer to the new one while his wife let the kids play with the dogs. In no time at all we were back on the road with a newer, brighter blue trailer rolling behind us and a story to go down in the Dick family books. As we drove down the highway we were talking about how we had started our journey with a prayer for safety and that the vehicle would function well. Even though technically there were some glitches with part of the vehicle, without that problem we would not have “The Tale of the Trailer” in our family. It is a experience that showed miracle after miracle and evidences of how our Heavenly Father is looking out for us. Any easy, no-trouble trip would never have taught us that.
Tera Dick
