anamosa, iowa

"A coincidence is a miracle where God chooses to remain anonymous."

God works in miraculous ways. I never thought that I would learn something about the Lord by having car trouble & being stuck in a hotel in Anamosa, Iowa, but I did.

The last week of school was filled with the excitement and anticipation of going home for spring break at the end of the week. We, that is Mike Collison, Lacey Steffen, Jarid, Crystal, and I, were no exception. We could not wait to get home!

After crossing into Iowa around 5:30, Lacey and I were ready for a stop. While we were walking around in the gas station, Mike checked his tires and we were off again. It was then that we noticed a strange sound coming and Lacey noticed a little bit of smoke coming out of the right side of the hood. Now, Mike is notorious for having car problems on trips . . . we soon realized that this trip would be no exception. We pulled off the interstate in Anamosa, Iowa, possibly the last stop for miles. Mike again pulled into a gas station to check the car. The alternator belt was missing. What had cued Mike there was a problem? The funny noise and the fact that he had lost power-steering (which is a funny thing to watch). We drove up to Wal-Mart (a supposed Supercenter) and found that they did not have any belts. We were sent to another store that "should" have the part we needed. No luck. The employees there sent us to an autoparts store . . . which was closed. We were about to give up when we saw a police officer walking out of a family restaurant. Mike, rather humourously, parked and caught the officer before he drove off. The officer took us to a towing and mechanics shop in town.

When Mike pulled in at Red's we all got out and huddled around the hood as the mechanic and police officer talked. The mechanic pulled the melted, streached out alternator belt out of the car. Several times the mechanic went back to the shop checking for a belt he could put on the car. No such luck . . . AND every auto dealer in town was closed. Our best choice was to stay in Anamosa for the night and continue to Missouri and Kansas in the morning. Before we officially gave up, Lacey called AAA. We all discussed our options (we all are, after all, college students) and decided the best bet was to stay in Anamosa. The mechanic was generous enough to drive us to the Super8 where we booked two rooms for the night.

It was disappointing to look at the clock and realize that it was only 6 in the evening and we were stuck 4 hours from home for the night, but we made the most of our night. We walked to the family restaurant where we found the officer and had a great pizza and just talked for about an hour and a half. It's funny, I have known Mike for years and have gone to college with Lacey for two years and I was finally able just to talk to them. After dinner, we went to our rooms and just hung out.

The boys left at 8:15 on Saturday morning to walk to the mechanics shop to be there when the car got fixed and will come back and get us girls. The guys got back to the hotel at 9 and informed us that the car would not be ready until at least 11:30. Lacey and I decided to go on a walk to Wal-Mart. We passed the time by just talking and hanging out outside of the hotel room. At 11, we checke out of the hotel and started walking to the mechanics shop--it was not a short walk. The car was still not ready, so we left our stuff in the shop and walked around downtown Anamosa for an hour--almost everything was "Closed for Good". We all laughted at that. The car was ready at 12:30 and after a much needed food stop at Hardy's, we were back on the road.

The next 4.5 hours were mostly devoted to sleep, which I must say can be pretty uncomfortable when you are in the middle. We all cheered (well, maybe Mike didn't ) as we crossed the Iowa/Missouri border. God is good. Jarid, Crys, and I stepped in the house at 6:15. For all of the seeming problems, God showed that He was in control and we were able to have alot of fun between WI and MO.

Did we want to spend the night in Anamosa, Iowa? Of course not, but we were able to see how the Lord worked in the situation:

1. Mike heard a noise and realized he lost power-steering and did not ignore the problems
2. There was an exit for Anamosa almost immediately after Mike realized there was a problem
3. Mike and Jarid were able to realize the problem with the car
4. We went to Wal-Mart where we had an employee point us to a store where an employee pointed us to a store which was closed but driving by we saw an officer
5. The officer took the time to help us and direct us to someone who could help
6. A mechanic who was on his way home stayed to help us
7. The mechanic drove us to Super8 where we were able to book two rooms
8. We all had enough money to split dinner and the rooms
9. We had an adventure together :)

It's funny how the unexpected things in life draw our attention to God. We could have been out on the interstate and wrecked or been stuck in the middle of nowhere, but God led us to Anamosa and we had a great adventure.