The title of this 99th blog post was intended to be “Charming Cape Cod”, as we reflected images of “Cape Cod style” homes, as seen on our overlandish odyssey. (It turns out that all homes on this special spit of Massachusetts land, jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, are Cape Cod homes! LOL.) From our large secluded campsite at
Nickerson State Park, Betty & I had ventured up and down the cape, from Race Point Beach at the outer tip of the Cape Cod National Seashore, to Sandwich and Bourne, where the cape joins the mainland. Some of the pictures connected to this post tell that story, but then the story took a significant turn, calling for a change of title…
In Betty’s words: “Sunday we went to a lovely Cape Cod church where the pastor spoke on Philippians 4. Three points: God is good, be content in your life, and be thankful.
Monday as we stopped at the JFK memorial the smart car died. We called AAA and waited in the beautiful parking lot looking at the ocean. The lovely Seth came and loaded the car onto a flat bed and drove us all back to the campground (Charlie riding high in the back of the car).
We decided to tow the car with the rv back to the mainland where we could find a dealership that could deal with our wee car.
Tuesday we are driving through some pounding rain on an Interstate when bang! The driver windshield wiper falls off and starts flapping against the rv. Fortunately there is an exit right there and a Walmart at the exit. Unfortunately there is no service centre. As we are leaving Graham sees a tiny garage out of the corner of his eye so we pull up. BTW it is still pouring. The fellow agrees to have a look and says it needs to be welded not just a lost bolt. BUT the rv has to go through the small gate and up to the garage door. Yikes! So we drop off the smart car in Walmart, drive the rv back and somehow get it up to the garage. Yeah all fixed. They ask if there is anything else and Graham says well we were supposed to have an oil change 4000 miles ago. No problem we will do it for you now. Now he has made friends with all the Lebanese guys in the garage so he tells them the story of the car and they say bring it over we will check it for you.
To make a long story short, if you can believe this is the short version, they look at the car & determine it needs a new fuel pump and feel really bad because it is expensive but we have no choice. So we are here in Fall River for another couple of days The best part is we cannot stay in the Walmart because Massachusetts has some crazy laws but there is a state reservation
on the ocean. (like a state park) we are literally camped beside the ocean with big beautiful waves rolling in. We would never have found this park had we not broken down and we would never have met these amazing Lebanese men had the wiper not broken.
God is good, we are content in this crazy set of circumstances and we are thankful.”
A small update: Bobby, the kind owner of Warren Auto Repair in Fall River, Mass. just called, with a choice to either have the fuel pump overnighted from the manufacturer to his garage for over $100., or to stay at Horseneck Beach State Reservation for a few more days, until they receive and install the pump. Betty & I have decided to stay at this beautiful Atlantic beachfront property (if we can confirm a campsite), and will keep you posted on the resolution of our current oh, oh.
Cheers!
