Traveling to Rio Bravo - The Story

The day began uneventful. We had breakfast and a short devotion and headed south.

We stopped for lunch and then......


There was a sudden loss of power in the gray van. Oh no!




A committee was formed to investigate the problem.

And when the air filter was removed, lots of grey fluffy stuff (that is the technical term) came out along with the filter. And then we saw the large hole.








We made a detour to keep us on the interstate and programmed a route to the nearest auto parts store.

Note: Finding auto parts on a Sunday afternoon is not as easy as it sounds.



But soon we found a new air filter and we were back on our way.

It seemed like we had been in the van FOREVER but we were back heading south for the border.

Until we reached a long stretch of highway between towns. I mean there was no billboards --- no restaurants---- no rest stops and (wait for it)---- no gas stations.

Here is the grey van resting again, this time waiting for the other van to return with a gas can - 0.7 miles from the gas pump.

We still had to drive to the McAllen Airport to pick up one last team memeber and grocery shop for lunches and snacks that were needed for the week.

We refocused - one team went to the airport and the other filled up four grocery carts full of food. We filled the gas tanks up and headed to the border.

There was one last surprise for us. As we crossed the border we called our escort and he told us that he had only found out that night that the tollway to Rio Bravo was closed due to flooding from last weeks Hurricane. He gave us the directions to the detour and began to drive towards us to meet us halfway and guide us in.


Finally we arrived!!

We unpacked and updated our facebook statuses.

Whew - Home Sweet Home!