Broken Down 1,000 Miles From Home

“How are you, Hadley?” I asked.

The four of us were dragging our suitcases across the empty streets of Kellogg, Idaho.

Our car was a mile behind us.

Broken down off interstate 90.

Hadley processed the question in her ten year old brain, then answered matter-of-factly:

“I’m fairly terrified.

But other than that, I’m OK.”

Huxley added sarcastically:

“Things are allllways working out for us… Aren’t they, dad?”

* * *

That morning, we were hiking through the remote mountains of Montana.

A pair of waterfalls roared down the majestic cliff above us, tumbling over and around rocks and roots, splitting and spraying with violent intensity before merging back into the crystal stream flowing by our feet.

We lingered there.

Soaked it in.

This was the payoff of our go-with-the-flow travel style – something Kayla and I had honed over years of beautiful, wayward wanderings.

“Things are always working out for us!” I said aloud, proud of our adventurousness.

“Don’t jinx us, dad.” Huxley said sincerely.

I paused.

In my family, you promptly “knock on wood” after saying something hopeful to ward off any bad spirits waiting to balance the scales.

But lately I’ve been wondering:

What if things actually do work out?

What if naming the good invites more of it?

I floated the idea to Hux.

He wasn’t so sure.

That afternoon we drove through the 90º heat of upper Idaho.

First the AC went out.

Then the power steering.

Finally, the battery light… and the dashboard went haywire.

I veered off the highway and coasted into a gas station.

The car died the second we stopped.

* * *

So now here we were.

No car. No plan. 1,000 miles from home.

Hauling our luggage down the unfamiliar streets of an old mining town.

Hadley: calmly terrified.

Huxley: calling bullsh!t on my fate-tempting woo.

Me and Kayla: thrown back into the kind of do-or-die resourcefulness that’s seen us through more than a few backwoods breakdowns.

Weren’t we getting too old for this?

What do you think?

Was the car breaking down a curse…
or the setup for an adventure we were meant to have?

Stay tuned for Part 2! 😜

Sometimes you’ve just got to go with the flow.

Fallen Angel – 12×16 Watercolor