A Christmas to remember

What an adventure!  Although we’re not where we’re supposed to be, we had a very nice Christmas.  But, maybe we’re supposed to be here?  We have met so many lovely people, it’s amazing.

From John the tow truck driver, who gets random nose bleeds, and his uncle is partners in a business who use lots of diesel trucks which had issues due to the cold.  Xander the Uber driver, who moved back to Staunton (pronounced Stanton) to be with his 88 year old mother.  He’s a car guy who is also quite tech savvy.  The Samsung Z-Fold phone mounted on the dash was loaded with icons associated with Widgets he created.   It was a dazzling display!

Folks we bumped into at the hotel who took and interest in us and our situation.  A couple, a little older than us, just struck up a conversation with me by simply saying, ” Where are you from?”  It led to me mentioning our predicament and that led to a story of he and his family’s camping travels.  Sharing how while we are in San Antonio we should visit Fredricksburg, and the Riverwalk, and so on.

The employees at the Staunton Hampton Inn have been so gracious.  Many times we stopped by the front desk with a request for this or that and they were very accommodating.  Being Christmas, the typical buffet breakfast was not offered today, and instead, it was Breakfast in a Box.  We had Xander run us out to the trailer this morning to grab a few things, among them was cereals and milk (almond).  Breakfast worked out great!

Christmas Dinner was served after Mass.  We celebrated Mass via YouTube.  The Mass was celebrated by Most Reverend Michael Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington, VA.  Mass was held at the National Shrine in Washington DC.  It was a very nice mass and his closing message was to folks who were watching from home, praising their perseverance, which seemed appropriate to both of us.

Jeanne, Mag and I sat out in the dining area, off the lobby, to enjoy dinner.  Mag heard there were only 8 rooms occupied today so we had the place to ourselves.  Jeanne and I had pasta with chicken and broccoli, in addition to, a salad.  Mag had veggie lasagna, African stew, and broccoli. 

After dinner Mag and I took a walk over to the Ford dealership to grab a book out of the truck.  It was about a 30 minute walk, round trip.  It felt nice to get out in thirty degree weather for a little exercise. Tomorrow morning we are planning on walking back there to check up on the truck and see if we can get back on the road.  Our sense is the issue was due to the impact the frigid temperatures had on the diesel fuel.  We hopeful anyway.  We’re both anxious to get back on track.