Accident At The Gate

I am writing this from the beautiful Caliente Springs RV Resort (caliente is "hot" in Spanish). And, yes, it is a hot springs resort. The swimming pools and hot tubs are fed by hot springs water and then cooled to swimming temperature. This is in fact the first swimming pool I have been eager and happy to actually enter and swim in since our adventures began. Generally I find the swimming pools too cold and prefer to spend my time in the hot tubs, which are generally barely more than warm. At Caliente, they are bath-water hot. Lovely!

But getting here...we have stories to tell.

Alfateers finished up with our coach about 2:30 on Friday afternoon, and we were eager to get on the road to our next destination, at which (I believed) we were due to arrive that day. The better part of wisdom would have been to stay put and leave in the morning. But we knew the road trip was only an hour and a half, and eagerness does not always take wisdom into account. So we hooked up the car and were on our way at about 3:45.

By the time we arrived at Caliente, it was dark, the gate was closed, the office was closed, and we were left wondering what to do next when some nice people gave us the gate code and directed us down the road (follow the orange stripe) to the office. In I went to get us all registered, but of coarse the office was closed. In the rack by the door were envelopes with information for those who had a reservation and were coming in late. There was one envelope with somebody else's name on it - nothing for "Finnesgard." Scratching my head, I grabbed one of the other envelopes for unregistered guests coming in late. These were open spaces that anyone could take. I decided to grab one and figure out in the morning whether or not it was worth the trouble moving our coach to the spot they reserved for us. By then it was dark. So I had the map and was guiding Mark where to go. Before I knew it, I realized we'd overshot the street we should have turned on and were headed out the gate again. There was no option for turning around at this point, so out we went toward a turn-around area where we unhooked the car.

From this point, Mark was driving the coach, I was driving the car and pulling the trailer behind, and we headed back to the gate. Mark's plan was to exit completely, turn around and come back through the gate straight-on. It was a good plan, but a nice man offered to open the gate for us and assured us that Mark should be able to come around from a right angle and traverse the gate space with no difficulty. So that's what he tried. It's a wide gate, but unfortunately, he turned too soon and pulled through at too much of an angle. As soon as I saw the danger, I jumped out of the car with the intention of running to tell him to stop, but I was too late. The back of the coach caught the edge of the gate, and "pop!" -- like the cap on a pop bottle, off came the back. Not completely, thank the good Lord-- just the bottom right side.

I panicked. I thought I had witnessed the folly to end all follies - the final fatal mistake that would end our nascent lifestyle of travel and adventures. I envisioned a giant hole in my bedroom.

And, I'm ashamed to say, I lost it. Watching the back of the coach literally being ripped away mere hours after yet another repair, I found myself tested -- a test of character that I failed miserably. Like a madman (or woman, in my case), I pounded on the side of the coach under Mark's window, screaming and cursing at my poor husband (God bless him for his forgiving spirit) and making a literal spectacle of myself in the presence of witnesses.

When it comes to controlling one's temper, everyone has their breaking point. Therefore, "judge not, lest ye be judged"...and found wanting. And, boy, was I ever.

Anyway, there was nothing to be done at this point but to continue on into the park, find our space, and park for the night. And so we did.

The damage will need to be repaired before we can do much more traveling, but it isn't structural. There's no hole in the bedroom. But we will need to return to Alfateers before getting on with our adventures. After getting a better look at the damage and consulting with other Alfa owners, Mark believes that the repair may not cost enough to get our insurance company involved, although if it turns out to be very expensive, we should be able to make a claim, since it was, in every respect, a collision.

Once I calmed down, and made my apologies to Mark, the Lord reminded me of a few very important things...

   1. The motorhome belongs to Him. We are merely using it. If it crumbles to dust, He will provide for me in some other way.
   2. No matter what happens -- even when bad things happen -- God has promised to care for me.
   3. "Trusting God" has very little value when everything is going well. Am I going to trust Him when things are not going well? That's when it really counts. That's when it means something.
   4. It's easy to be kind to perfect people. The mark of the Christ-follower is showing kindness to others (especially the ones we claim to love) when they mess up, or make mistakes, or fail us in some way. What does God want from me? Two words:  "Be Kind." If I can't manage this simple thing, how then can He use me for anything? That's my challenge in 2018.

Going forward, Mark and I have made a solemn pact to never, NEVER, ever again travel in the dark. We've done it three times now, and every single time we've had some mishap or misery. We humans were created for the light, not the dark. We have very poor night vision...especially we old humans. So if we have to cancel a reservation and boondock to avoid darkness, that's what we do from now on. As it happened, the reservation I made at Caliente was for arrival on Saturday, January 6, not Friday. All of this would have been avoided if I had done the simple thing of checking the reservation before we left Fontana. Sigh. We'll get the hang of this travelling lifestyle eventually. God willing.

To anyone considering whether or not to park your RV at Caliente Springs Resort, I highly recommend it. The staff are great, the grounds are beautifully kept, and the water is clean and warm. It's somewhat on the pricey side, but the Passport America discount (if you have it) makes the cost a bit more affordable. Normally we're trying to stay in the Thousand Trails system, but our membership plan requires us to be out one week for every two weeks we're in. We booked Caliente Springs for that in-between week, and we can't be more pleased. We hope to be able to come back every year (God willing!)

Tomorrow, we'll find out when Alfateers can get us back in to get our damage repaired. Until then, we're enjoying the fabulous hot springs pools and the warm dry weather of Palm Springs. Today we attended Caliente's church service. The hall was filled. The music was uplifting. The message was on how Jesus Christ did everything that needs to be done for our salvation. Communion was served. We went away very much blessed, having been reminded that God is good ALL THE TIME.