I’m gonna say, for Jim and I, MOST days are diamonds, but if you are familiar with the song John Denver recorded for RCA in 1981, you know that the song goes on to say, “Some days are stone.”

It would be absurd to think everything in life should be perfect and flawless (like a diamond). We do our best to make good plans and avoid as many problems as possible but….

Sometimes, life throws a big fat stone in our way!

Right now, we are in the middle of another cross-country road trip.  This time our drive starts in California (our home) to Maryland, Pennsylvania, back West to Arizona, then Colorado, then back home to CA (whew!)  When we get ready for these trips, we do everything possible to be fully prepared and anticipate any obstacle.  We make detailed lists…everything is checked and double checked.  

Off we go!  June 16, 8:00 am…  But our tally-ho suddenly turned into a tally-NO!  4 hours into our trip, driving through Havasu Lake (a balmy 113 degrees) when the air conditioner stopped working.  We rolled the windows down and suffered.  We stopped at an auto shop in Kingman, AZ, but our van is too big for his lift, so we went to the Ford dealer – they needed 2 days to work on it.  We didn’t have 2 extra days; we HAD to get to where we were going….so we moved on.  

Thankfully, with some midnight mechanics and a new compressor from Auto Zone,  Jim was able to get the air conditioner working a little bit.  The entire system eventually needs to be taken apart and flushed to get it to operate correctly, but Jim did the best he could do in hotel parking lots along the way….and we made it to our destinations on time.  We sure appreciated the air-conditioned comfort of the beautiful theaters we performed in!

How did we ever survive without air conditioning?  What is your experience in a car without such luxury?  Share your experience in the comments!

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