a rod through the block

It was July of 1980. We had driven from Phoenix to Wisconsin for my brother Ronnie and Debbie's wedding. We had married the summer before in Phoenix. So excited to attend a family wedding so close to our 1st wedding anniversary.

 I recently found this old photo. Randy had changed out of his tux and we were off to start our new adventure as husband and wife in his '69 Dodge Charger. 

 So fun being on the farm. We even helped my Dad bale hay. Yes, that's me driving the tractor.

That's Randy helping my Dad.

That's my brother Kevin (11) driving the tractor. 

Well, after a wonderful week on the farm, we decided to start out for my sister's in Oklahoma in the evening after a family dinner at a local supper club. But I quickly realized I had forgot the stump.

Did she just say stump?

Yes. A tree stump. That my Dad had cut and left to burn. That I rescued for a possible end table. That I just had to have. Don't laugh, they're all the rage again.

So we went back to the farm to load it in my husband's '69 Dodge Charger. Side story... when I found the stump I made Randy carry it to the house. It's heavy. When it started to rain I made him bring it in the house so it wouldn't get wet. Like it hadn't gotten wet all those months outside! I know, I'm a lot of work.

So we hit the road and somewhere along I-35 in Iowa around 3am, I awoke to a horrible sound. My heart sank. Randy got us to the next rest stop, crawled under the Charger and declared "I threw a rod through the block". Well... is that bad? The look on his face spoke volumes. So without thinking "Then why did you do that?" I know, I need to think before I speak.

So he worked on the car in the dark for a while and then said he needed a bolt, and that should get us back on the road. Btw, he had totally rebuilt this car. And he always traveled with his tools. And if we didn't have such a good marriage I would have been jealous of the hours they spent together.

So we hitched a ride on a semi truck to the next exit/ truck stop. I had never been in a rig before, so I may have been a bit giddy, chatty... at 3am... poor truck driver. At the truck stop they let Randy dig through a bucket of bolts, where he found three in the hopes one would do the trick. We then walked to the other side of the exit and hitched a ride back to the rest stop. I was less giddy and chatty this time around. Reality was setting in. What if none of the bolts fit? So I began to pray for a miracle.

I quickly jumped down off the semi truck and began running across several lanes of freeway, and then through the tall grassy median, all the while looking back and no Randy. When I finally got to the rest stop I could see he was coming. He said that when he jumped down from the rig, the door wouldn't shut... he kept trying till he discovered a bolt had jammed the door. The truck driver said to take it, cuz hey, it just might be the bolt.

And you know what? IT WAS!

Randy tried the three bolts first... but it was the bolt stuck in the door that finally worked!

We had prayed for a miracle and God answered... and we were on our way! Praise the Lord!

And get this, when Randy sold the Charger a couple years later, that miracle bolt was still doing the trick!