Houston, We Have a Problem!!

Yes, the photo says we are headed for South Fork PA and in the car to boot! When we left on Monday, we had high hopes of getting the service performed on the RV and then head to South Fork to visit friends Carol and Don in the RV. However just as we finished breakfast yesterday, we got a phone call from the shop manager. As expected, a call this soon after work had started could not be good! The report was that we have engine coolant in the engine oil and as anyone know oil and water do not mix and in the case of engines, they should never come in contact with each other. Obviously, the RV will not be ready to roll that day. Since they still held out some slight hope that the engine repair might be quick, we decided to purchase a large cooler load all of our cold or frozen food, some clothes, all that we needed for Edgar and us to survive for a week and headed west to see our friends Carol and Don.

Today, June 1, we received a call from the shop, and it will not be the easy fix we were hoping for so one day soon we will be driving back to Delaware with on stop in Harrisburg to pick up more stuff and wait to get the RV repaired. Fortunately, we were in the parking lot of the repair shop not needing a tow truck and we are all safe and well! In addition, we still have a time to get everything fixed and still make the start of our adventure to Alaska. Let us hope and pray that the extended warranty we have helps with most of the expense.

May 31 is the anniversary of the 1889 Johnstown flood which claimed the lives of 2200 people. In observance of this tragedy the park service held a luminary event last night. There were 2200 luminaries each lettered with the name of a victim. I was informed that children from a local grade school lettered the bags as a community project, park service and local volunteers place them along park walkways and roads and other volunteers walk patrol to assure that all of the luminaries remain lit. I was an experience that we happened on that the memory of it will remain for a while.

Today, after breakfast we decided to tour the site of the Quecreek Mining Disaster and Recovery. Although I had been the once before I was pleasantly surprised about the facility toady. This year near the end of July there will be festivities in observation of the 20th anniversary of the successful rescue of 9 trapped miners. The docent did a wonderful presentation and listed several of the miracles that occurred to insure the recovery of 9 miners. One that sticks in my mind is the breaking of the first drill bit only feet from breaking through into the mine. At the time everyone was extremely frustrated wondering why it happed. Only after the successful recovery was it discovered that had the bit broke through it would have been instant death to all 9 miners. If you are ever in Somerset PA and you are looking for something to do be sure to add this to the list which should include the Flight 93 Memorial and the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel.