Awful things could've happened. But they didn't.

Yesterday was a little bit of a mess.  While I intended to leave Woodland Hills at 6 am, that couldn't have happened, because I slept in til 610..

Eventually I hit the road and was cruising down the 101, when I heard this awful sound. I looked in my side view mirror only to see my entire ski rack and skis bouncing down the freeway.  Luckily, no one was behind me and in the way of my rooftop missile. There was a kindly gentlemen who pulled off to the side, ran onto the freeway, picked up the entire set-up, threw it in the bed of his truck, and then followed me to an empty parking lot. He was kind and non-judgmental, reassuring me that it has happened to him before, but with his surf board.

The rack was damaged and my skis scraped, but everything was still functional and fixable.  But not by me, I couldn't do it. I was talking to a friend from work on the phone and I just kept repeating, "what am I going to do?" As you can see from the picture above, my car was jam packed.  No skis were going to fit in there.

After nearly having a breakdown in a parking lot, I took notice of the fire department conveniently placed across the street. I ran over to see if they could help.

In no time I had 5 firemen working on the roof rack. They had to re-form one of the pieces, and they readjusted the racks countless times. But they never complained. They were friendly, we all told stories, they gave me coffee.  It was great.  And I didn't have to do a thing. After about an hour, I was back on the freeway, headed north, with a very secure roof rack.

Let's just discuss this situation again before I move on.

That could've been terrible.  Can you imagine if there was a motorcyclist behind me? What if no one stopped to pick up my skis? What if I turned left off of the freeway, instead of right, and didn't end up by the fire station. what if it had been a very busy morning for the LAFD, instead of a slow one?

I can't even imagine.

So with feelings of gratefulness and grace, I continued on the freeway, and onto the Pacific Coast Highway.

It was a gorgeous day, and the drive is amazing. However, I was now two hours behind on my trip.  You may be wondering, "why is there a time frame" Well, let me tell you. I am in the process of moving North. Not sure where my final place will be, but I had chosen a storage unit in Pacifica, a coastal town.  My plan was to dump my stuff, go on vacation for a week, then crash in Washington at my cousin's house until I start my next job. The self storage business closed at 5pm, and the man on the phone assured me that they would not wait for me to get there to rent the unit.  So if I wasn't able to unload my stuff, I would have a car full of things and no room for my family when they arrived today.

The PCH is a winding cliffside trail, with very few stores and gas stations on the way. The one time I stopped, just to keep my tank above the half way mark, the gas cost $5.56/gal.  At first I thought, "yikes, I'll only put $10 in" then I realized that wouldn't even get me two full gallons. So I went ahead and splurged on $20 worth..

Time was continuing to go by as it always does.  Also my gas gauge continued to go down. Finally, I arrived at the storage place at exactly 4:45pm. And I had been running on empty for at least 15 miles.  Not the initial gas light coming on empty, but the car blinking "---" in the space which usually has a number notifying me of how many miles are left to empty, type of empty. 

After taking load after load of boxes, bins, and bags upstairs to my storage unit, I drove around in search of a restaurant on the coast to watch the sunset. A little cafe I went to told me that they were closing in 15 minutes, so I just decided to stand on a cliff and watch the sunset. 

While I was watching, I reached for my phone to make a call, but I couldn't turn it on. I tried all of the reset and button combo tricks that usually work, but got nothing.  I shrugged it off and went to eat dinner somewhere else, thinking that it would eventually work.  

Well it didn't. Even after I plugged it in, thinking I just needed it to charge. Nothing. The main problem was that my phone is also my GPS. So with 3 hours left in my journey, and no previously documented route, I was basically stranded.  Luckily I have an iPad and was able to find free wifi at a laundromat down the street.  I sent an email to my family confirming my safety, and wrote down directions.

Have you ever traveled in an unknown place, without any form of communication or real sense of where you are or where you are going.  It's somewhat terrifying. Especially since I kept thinking, "who would I even call if something more is to go wrong?" I know that people used to travel without technology, but what can I say? I'm a child of my generation, and those comfort blankets: cell phone, GPS, I've become totally dependent upon.

The drive from Pacifica to Strawberry, where I would be staying for the night, was supposed to take 3 hours. But I kept stopping on the way to try to fix my phone and to communicate with my parents. I took to sitting in  McDonald's and Starbucks parking lots, mooching off of their free wifi. 

 Strawberry, which sounds like an adorable and safe place, is very dark and the businesses are spread out. There is a poor sense of community and closeness.. Well at least it appeared so at night.  I found my hotel and checked in at approx 1030.  It was a shabby lodge with old furniture and kitschy decorations.  The couches had worn out spots from years of people's weight pressing into it's cushions, and the beds showed the same where as they were curved into the middle.  The carpets were patchy and stained. My room was at the top of the stairs, but down the hall from the community bathroom, which was as disgusting as you might imagine it to be.  The internet was only accessible in the main lobby, so I called verizon on my ipad to try to fix my phone, but was unable to make it work again.  The whole time I was trying this, the owner of the hotel was sitting at his desk, aware of my dilemma.  After verizon was unable to help me, I decided to sleep and try again in the morning. 

This morning I woke up early to try to catch my parents before they boarded their flight, but the wireless wasn't working.  I talked to staff members, asking for a pay phone, a computer, the hotel phone, anything to help me reach them just to touch base. The workers there would not help me.  They kept giving me excuses, "I'm sorry, the computer here is for staff only", "we don't have service to make long distance calls" "the pay phone doesn't work anymore" No one would offer their cell phone either.  There were also guests eaves dropping on my conversations, but they simply watched and never offered any help. 

I felt like I was going to go crazy. Why wouldn't anyone help me? I finally decided to leave in search of a McDonald's. I knew Ronald would help me out. I was able to once again send a few emails, and get directions to a Verizon store.

I arrived in Reno and went to the store. They tried, but couldn't fix my phone. Once again I mooched wifi, checked my parents flight status, and was able to reach Matt, my cousin, who was also arriving today for vacation with us. Because of various issues, I could no longer offer Matt a ride with us to our cabin, and he would have to take a shuttle. I felt so bad, because that sounded awful, but he was understanding and kind about it.   

Eventually I got to the airport, collected my parents, went out to lunch, then to the Apple store, where I had an appointment to fix my phone.  The guy who helped me said that my hard drive failed.  We're not sure how and he also said, "it's a rare problem". He was able to give me a new phone, and by 9pm this evening I was back on the grid. 

You're probably reading this and thinking, "what was the big deal? It all worked out" Well you are right, it did, but the process of it working out was quite taxing on my heart.  It was just stressful. 

Which is why I chose the title for this blog.  A lot of awful things could have happened, but they didn't. Despite my concerns and the issues that were in the way these past two days, everything worked out.  Everyone is alive. No one was harmed. All systems are a go.  And now I get to ski for a week.

This is some flair from the cabin that we are staying in.  It's adorable. 

Well, thanks for listening to me vent.  Thanks for worrying about me when I didn't answer your calls and texts.  Thanks for wishing me well as I go on this journey.

And thanks be to God, who got me here safely.  I hope I don't forget who is orchestrating this whole thing. He who holds the world in His hands, and knows the hairs on my head. 

Goodnight everyone :)