Bethany's cat, Bandit, had been sick since we started this journey. We thought it was just a cold virus plus the stress of all that was going on. He stopped eating but was still drinking and going to the bathroom. So we just watched him and loved on him. A few days later, he also stopped drinking. We started to use a syringe to get liquids down him but he kept deteriorating. Sunday morning, he was hiding from us. We finally found him and knew that something was really wrong. He was holding his head funny and wouldn't use his legs. He was struggling to breathe. We all watched him as he suffered and then he had some sort of seizure and passed away. We think it was some issue in his brain and if we think back to before we left, he wasn't himself then either. The trip may have exasperated the situation, but we think the end result was inevitable. It was such a sad, hard morning for us. Afterward, Bethany and I agreed that there was also some relief mixed in with the sadness. It was so hard to see him not act like the Bandit we knew. We will miss him terribly.
We had already decided to spend an extra day at this campsite, San Carlos, Sonora, and this just confirmed that we needed to stop for a day and have a Sabbath. We headed to the beach!
Here is Bethany looking for shells.
The boys playing in the water.
Fun treasures that they found.
Messing around in the water!
The day was so fun and relaxing. I sat in a chair with a book. The kids were so concerned that I was bored and not having fun! Someday they will realize how awesome it is to just sit on the beach and read!! ;)
Yesterday, we had a long day of driving ahead of us so we were on the road by 6:30 am. The day was awesome and as we got closer to our next stop, I was already writing this blog entry in my head! It was going to be about a good, long, uneventful day of travel. And then . . . we got another flat tire. Not the same tire but the one right next to it. Don had been worried about that tire since the first blowout. It looked like the blowout had caused some damage.
The flat tire didn't seem like that big of a deal to us. We were on a good stretch of road with a decent shoulder. We got out the jack and the spare. Caleb started to loosen the first nut and the bolt broke. Um . . . keep going, we can keep it on with 5 bolts. Then the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th bolt broke. We actually stopped at 3 and decided we needed to call someone. Mexico has a number similar to 911 that you can call for help. They were amazing! Once we knew someone was on the way, they continued to get the tire off. A pickup with a couple road workers showed up and took a look. They then went 5 km away to get a mechanic. Yes, we were that close to help! They came back and the mechanic took off the hub so he could take it back with him to repair it. Once he got the hub off, he could see that the brakes on the trailer were bad.
In hindsight, we should have taken the camper in to be looked at before we left. We took the Suburban in but didn't even think about the camper. In the midst of the craziness, it got lost in the shuffle.
Once the mechanic returned we paid him (extremely cheap!) and gave him some 'Meema' cookies. For those of you that don't know about my mom's cookies . . . well, let's just say that you are missing out!! ;) We told the guys where we were headed and they thought it was too far. They really suggest that you don't drive at night in Mexico Because of that, they wanted us to go park behind a hotel at the next town.
We prayed and felt peace about continuing. We decided that we needed to get to a place for a couple nights so that we could have the brakes worked on before we hit the mountains. We actually missed the exit for our planned stop. It was quick and we thought there would be a second exit. After driving for a long time before we could find a place to turn around, we decided it would be better to continue on. It is good to be flexible, right??!!
We got out Don's "Camping in Mexico" book and found a campsite on the north side of Mazatlan. It was a little tricky to find in the dark but we made it, pulled in and got ready for bed!
Don talked with the owner/manager this morning. A guy is going to come and work on our brakes today while we head to the beach! Through all of this, we can feel the Lord's hand upon us. Thank you all so much for praying! We are now going to be several days behind schedule, but again, we are working on being flexible!!
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