Mama's weekend away: Road Trip

I started my drive around 7:30. I started it with Rend Collective blasting and my cup of coffee. 

I knew how many kilometers it was to the Highway so that I would know if I missed it. 

Those first 45 minutes to an hour are winding roads, beautiful scenery, and cars passing cars on blinding curves. It is not enough to pay attention to the cars in the other lane, you could, even in your own lane, have a car coming at you head on who was passing another car around a curve. I knew all of this and kept my head in the game. 

There was also the drug checkpoint, which made me nervous. People don't really travel alone here. I am a foreign woman...The Army guy with the big gun was friendly enough and tried out all his English on me. They were completely taking apart another car, removing seats and all. They photocopied my passport and sent me on my way. with this bit of English: "Have a pleasant journey."

About forty minutes in, an engine light starts flashing. 

Text David. "J, says that is normal, it is fine."

A little bit later another one comes on. Text David (stop texting and driving!)

I am on the highway now, yeah, I made that turn!

I was literally driving into the clouds. It was gorgeous.

I decide to put on the audio book "You and Me Forever" by Francis Chan. I listened to this almost the rest of the way. It was awesome, if you haven't read it, please do!!! David had listened to it when I was laid up with the flu, thought we should discuss it, and finally I got around to starting it on my runs and was really challenged by it. We hope to go through it together this year!

I finally call David, because texting and driving is never a good idea. I thought it could be a transmission thing. I did not want to be driving our friends' car with no oil in it or something dreadful like that that could destroy the engine.
'Do you know how to check oil?' David asked.
'Yes, my dad did teach me that!' (a useful skill, folks, thanks dad!)
'Be careful on the highway, make sure you are on a flat road, not an incline, and just know the engine will be very hot, so use a cloth of some sort.' I laughed and told him he sounded just like my dad.
But I will admit I was a little nervous.

Somewhere in there, about two hours in, Bella's teacher calls. She is throwing up at school.
Hmmmm....how is my plan working out so far? I contemplate turning around. Now David's day and possible rest of the week is interrupted/messed up/ruined. Not really, but I consider all the possibilities and take a deep breath while I break the bad news to David.

David gets Bella and Tobin and takes them home. Bella does have a virus and remains sick the next few days, only throwing up a few times. Tobin ended up staying home on Thursday with Bella. This did not fare well, 'he was a naughty boy' Sophia told me. 'What did he do?' I asked. 'Too many things to name." She replied. He went to school all day on Friday.

David is able to work his full days in spite of a sick child, and she is well taken care of.

Meanwhile, back on the road....
I decide to stop in the bigger city on the way to check the oil, instead of pulling off on the side of the road (what if I needed help?). This has me get off the highway a bit, so I pay attention to every turn. I pull into a gas station and they won't let me check it there. I pull behind the gas station near a bus station, next to a bus with a lady who happens to be the driver's helper. She gets down and watches me. We talk about the oil and possible engine trouble. The Father sent her there to reassure me. It looked like the car had plenty of oil, she definitely thought so too. I thanked her and went on my way.

Cruising along, making good time. Until we are directed to get off the highway on to the old road. I knew this was a possibility and knew it would slow my time. The roads are narrow, mountainous, bumpy, and would now be holding lots of big trucks plus me and others all on our way...

I was hoping the detour was well marked. I did text other friends, G and E at this point for moral support. It wasn't really well-marked but I could read the signs (Whew).
This was the first road. Not even paved. gravel dirt and muddy, it had been raining, and did rain that weekend also. This was when I was really thankful I was in the big SUV I was in.

Then the road changed and we really started cruising again. Not that bad, I thought, it will take longer but it won't be that bad.

Here is an example of passing on a blind curve:

Have I mentioned yet that there are LOTS of big trucks?

Narrow mountain road, bumpy, BIG trucks. And still we are doing okay. This is because coming down the mountain, southbound, the highway is still open. So, all of us going northbound go up in two lanes, following everyone else. This works fine for awhile....until...


You guessed it, someone decides to use the old road to go South. More than one person actually, and a few big trucks at that.

Dead stand still:

For Hours.

I am texting back and forth (which is safe because we are not moving). Early in the morning one friend texted; "lifting you up....asking that the day is not stressful in any way but surprisingly relaxing..."

There is the red truck coming down the mountain.
I text my friend back, tell her we will probably arrive at the same time, she plans on arriving tomorrow. She tells me to eat my snacks for the retreat...
Her text (after engine lights, Bella sick, and the off-road fiasco): "so my prs from this morning are answered differently than I hoped. Yikes!!! Be careful! Just don't fall off the mountain. I really want to see you tomorrow."

Falling off of the mountain was not a stretch, she knows Chinese mountain roads.
I decided that if need be I would hike over to that little farm house (that you can't see in my pic) and stay the night.

What I wanted to do was take control of the situation, walk up the mountain and start directing traffic. I was certain I could fix things, help people move their cars so we could get through. I had a ton of money in my car. And all the drivers getting out of their cars/trucks were men mainly. Suddenly I didn't feel so certain of myself. I got out a few times, talked to various people, who couldn't believe I was traveling alone. This is something the Chinese do not do. But they were all friendly, and I really did not feel scared.

Every time we moved a little, this black exhaust from the bus in front engulfed my car.
I texted Dave that I would spend the night in a village...and that I really had to pee, but that a bunch of men were standing around.

Then  a traffic police guy walked by and, I kid you not, told us to reverse down the mountain. I did laugh out loud.

Here is the thing. Most Chinese really just learned to drive in the past 5-10 years, except maybe big truck drivers. Really good at U-turns anywhere, really bad at reverse. Add that to narrow mountain road, steep cliff, big trucks. The cars started doing ten point turns in whatever little space they could to go back down. I hoped the bus' brakes would hold.

My next text: 'this should be on a TV show'.
My friend: "At least you have a great story for your blog. Our lives are getting to easy over here anyway."
Me: 'stop making me laugh, I will pee in my pants.'

We reverse for a little bit. Then forward motion and another stand still.
On the side of the mountain I see a little place to buy things. I ask to use their bathroom. She points me across the road to this:

That is the Chinese character for female/women. At least there was a women's and a men's.

I would have just gone out in the grass except for this:

All the drivers were standing around (that is the "bathroom" behind them....) Behind the trees, very steep drop-off.
Worst bathroom ever.

Finally we get moving, after about three hours of what I consider to be an amazing, but not atypical Asian road adventure.

Before reaching Dali, we were able to get back on the highway. I was extremely tired, from a short nights' sleep and the intense driving. I blasted Josh Garrels this time and made it all the way to the guest house without a hitch!

What I was most stressed out about, getting lost, was never a problem. Road delays, etc. while on my radar, never caused anxiety. The Father knows what He is doing and how to protect and guide. He did that for me, kept me calm, and even had me laughing in the midst of what was a frustrating situation...and yes, it does make a good blog story.