Day 3 of the West Journey

So, this is the day that Jeremy coined the phrase, “Drive by Faith not by Sight”.

Yes, as Marvin wrote in his blog whom ever said that our Russian van didn't have options was quite wrong! We found out that there are many useful options on our I-Van (the name of our van).

They include: the windshield wipers, roof rack, dome lights, head lights, turn signals, heater fans, and alternator! YES, Alternator! But I am getting a bit ahead of myself.

The day started a bit more unusual then usual. It was raining, but not hard constant rain just the kind of rain that soaks through everything. We packed up our tents, sleeping bags, and ate a bit of fried bread. Maybe Jeremy and Marvin split a Snickers. I am to healthy for that kind of non-sense so I drank a liter of milk instead :-)

We set out like any other day: With Prayer over the road, vehicle, and travels! About four hours into the journey Jeremy took over the driving from me. Then it happened the road got a bit sloppy, muddy, and was splattered with lots of puddles! One particular puddle warranted a stop! Our roof rack decided that it would rather ride more toward the front of the vehicle then the rear! With that jump of the rack we stopped...Jeremy killing the engine we all jumped out to tighten her down. The rack had bent a bit, English engineering not Russian, but in a jiff we were back in I-Van. But the van wouldn't start. The solenoid engaged...the starter would spin, but not start....hmmm!

We all thought for a bit...”the battery doesn't have juice”, Marvin exclaimed! And that is when Ruth and Jason's wonderful gift started to show us it wasn't just along for the ride. You see Ruth and Jason gave us a Black and Decker Jump start/ Tire Inflator for our journey! I sure am glad that Ruth and Jason are sensitive to the Spirit's leading. That was it we jumped started the battery and we were off! But we noticed on our gage that our alternator was no longer giving a charge. Again....hmmm.... If you don't know you can only drive without an alternator as long as your battery has enough charge to run the engine.

So, that is how the day went on...none of the options we had could be use any longer! They would cause the battery to lose charge much to quick! We drove on all the way to Zerek through snow, yes snow, cold wind, and no visibility (we estimated it at about a mile). Zerek is where a beautiful couple let us crash there home for the night and its where day 3 ended.