Hey Everyone! Last night I officially arrived in Jasper, Georgia at Sharp Top Cove! It was certainly a long trek from Michigan yesterday. I took off around 5:45am from Flint and drove straight down I-75 until I stopped in Dayton for Breakfast at the local Waffle House at about 10am. Then, I continued to the middle of Kentucky for lunch. I was definitely making good time. At this point I was planning on arriving at camp around 6:30pm.
There was certainly quite a bit of mountainous terrain going through Kentucky and Tennessee. I didn't think much about the possible wear and tear on my vehicle at the time. But when I exited the freeway near Chattanooga, I realized there was definitely something wrong with the good ol' 96 Mercury Sable. Whenever I would stop at a stoplight and then attempt to accelerate to go ahead, the car would "jump" for a second until the transmission could catch up with my request to go forward. This lasted for a couple minutes until the conditions worsened even more. I pulled over at a gas station to let it cool down and observed an apparent transmission fluid leakage dripping onto the pavement.
After going inside to get food from the McDonald's and calling my dad for advice, I proceeded to purchase six quarts of transmission fluid. I used two quarts to begin with and then kept the other four on hand for later use. It's a good thing I bought extra, because just a couple minutes after crossing the state line into Georgia the transmission made it's presence known again. I pulled over at a local ice cream shop, prayed, filled up, and drove off. Just about fifteen minutes later I repeated this process in a town called Talking Rocks. I was only about twenty five minutes away from camp. I could only hope the Sable would be able to endure that a bit more.
Sadly, my worst fear was realized after five more minutes of rugged hill driving; the transmission appeared to have given up. I coasted to the side of the road on the state highway and to be honest I was in a bit of a panic. My ETA of 6:30 was now three hours in the past and I was stranded on a busy road in the dark. Frantically I grabbed my cell phone which was flashing "Low Battery!" at me and called the camp. Despite very bad cell reception I got through and enlightened them on the situation at hand.
Finally, about twenty minutes later one of my fellow interns, Mike, arrived to help. We loaded up his car with a majority of my luggage and left the car for the night. After a night's rest at camp, I went back for the car with my roommate and fellow intern Joseph. We arrived to the site and was greeted by aSheriff deputy who was just about to call for a tow truck to impound my car. Thank God we were able to arrive when we did! Just a few minutes later and the car would have been gone with many fees attached. However, the deputy was very helpful and talked with us for a bit, while we waiting for a tow truck that Joe called using his AAA roadside assistance. For the time being we decided the best bet was to just bring the car to camp.
So, now the car and myself are both at SharpTop! I praise God for his protection and safety yesterday through the craziness of the long journey. The hard part is the realization that I will probably need a rebuilt transmission, which will most likely cost around 1,800 dollars! I barely just had enough for gas money to get me down to GA, so this is a tough reality to swallow. However, I know that God is faithful and will not forsake me through this. I am blessed with the reality that I live at a camp where there is food provided for most meals, a warm place to sleep every night, and if need be other interns who have vehicles.
I would really appreciate your prayers though right now concerning this situation. Pray that God will provide the means necessary for my car to be fixed in a timely manner. Also pray that this disappointment will not affect my excitement for starting this new internship with eight other awesome people. I look forward to updating again in the near future. Please keep in touch! Blessings!
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