Last Monday, August 30, 2004, was one of the longest days of my life. It was tiring, dangerous, and scary. But there was so much favor all throughout, I just know God was there with me.

Prologue:
I've been in Chicago for around a month now. But last week, I found out my dad would be in St. Louis, Missouri. Seeing as it's only 6 hours south, I took a bus down last Wednesday, and stayed with him till over the weekend. Then, on Monday morning, our hosts dropped him off at the airport, and me at the bus port so that he could fly to LA, and I could take the bus back to Chicago.

I was dropped off at the bus station at 9 am, but since my bus wasn't arriving till 11:30, I slept, with my legs and arms intertwined with my luggage to keep it from getting stolen. Not exactly the most comfortable position, but it sufficed. Eventually the bus came, and I boarded it. Unfortunately, I made a mistake, and instead of taking me to Chicago as I expected, it went to downtown St. Louis, where I had to buy a ticket and board another bus.

The bus ride was long and tiring. I eventually got to Chicago at 6:30 pm. I took a cab to my car, which I had left parked in the city. I had to refill the radiator with this antifreeze solution because the car has a silly habit of emptying itself. Unfortunately, I forgot to replace this rubber stop cap, which connects the reserve tank to the rest of the radiator. So basically, the reserve tank had the antifreeze which would keep it cool, but since it wasn't connected, the car was going to overheat.

I drove to the house I'm staying in, which is an hour and a half away from the city. Along the way, while on the interstate, the car started smoking (which is such a bad habit, and a terrible example to today's young people). I was going too fast though that I didn't notice it. And another motorist was running along beside me, and he signaled to me. I pulled over to the shoulder and sure enough smoke started coming out of the hood. So much of it was pouring out, I was afraid the car would catch fire, so I pulled my bags out. This was around 8 pm.

Basically, I had no choice but to wait for the car to cool down before I could drive again. Good thing I had my laptop, so I played games to pass the time. These cars and trucks would whiz by me in the next lane, and they were going so fast my car would rock everytime one of them passed me. I was glad it was still light, when I broke down. But it got dark so fast I had to push the car under a streetlight while I waited for it to cool.

When it finally did cool down, I drove it, but didn't go farther than half a mile before it overheated again, and I had to cool it off again. Fortunately, the family I'm staying with was eating at a restaurant at the next exit, so I only had 6 miles to go. So I maintained that pattern...drive for a bit, let it cool down for 15-20 minutes, drive a bit further, let it cool down again...lather, rinse, repeat. And I finally got to the restaurant at 9:30 pm...more than 12 hours after I had left the house in St. Louis. I ate first, then my friend accompanied me to the gas station to have my car looked at. We couldn't get it to stop overheating though. So we left it at a hotel and went home. I got home at 12 midnight. I had taken a 15 hour trip.

Epilogue: Looking back, I see how dangerous my carelesness was. I could've been hit by a car or truck since I was parked right beside this busy highway. I could've been mugged or something too. And I could've permanently damaged the engine of the car. But God is faithful, and He protected me. Today, I went back for the car, and it worked fine! Thank you, thank you, thank you, God!!! So there. The trip was a pretty tiring, scary, exhilirating, and envigorating experience. And I've learned several valuable lessons. I also got to share the Gospel to this old man in his 80's while waiting for my bus, so it was pretty fruitful too. I gotta say, this trip has changed so much in me. Oh well...love the independence.