The final episode.
The morning in George I didn’t feel rushed. I figured all the tyre places will only open at 9am and I felt at ease knowing we only had a 3 hour trip to Port Elizabeth.
We packed the car and went to the first tyre place I could find. To park the car in such a way that I could drive again with the trailer was no joke but I managed. I ran into the place, leaving the kids in the car to get assistance. Once the sales rep saw the tire he assured me I couldn’t drive 300km with a tyre looking like that but also shared that they had no 19 inch tires in stock. He directed me to another tyre place.
Thankful I parked the way I did, we left and drove to the next place. This time it was easy to park and they could help me with a new tyre. Not a Continental but I didn’t care, if the tyre fit I was happy. He apologized for being very busy but assured me I would have my car back in 2 hours. I knew I couldn’t just sit there for 2 hours with the kids so the “tyre guy” explained if we walked a little down the road I would find the Wimpy. I was happy, I’m a Wimpy kinda girl.
My four kids and I made our way down the main road in George towards Wimpy in the blazing heat. We walked and we walked and we walked..... we crossed busy robots and we walked some more! When we finally made it to Wimpy I was happy, ordered myself an ice cold Coke! The walk back felt like double the distance and we were so hot! Once we got back to the tyre place my car was nearly ready. They were so kind and took an umbrella out for us, I guess the guy took one look at our red faces and felt sorry for us 😂.
Finally we were back on the road at 12:30pm - in my mind this was no problem until we hit the N2 again. Oh my word, have I mentioned how busy the roads were? Knysna is such a small town but it took us 35 minutes just to get from the one side to the next. I had such a giggle to myself, a BMW X 5 drove in front of us and they had a brand new whatever inch tyre and I’m sure a run flat tied to their roof. I wanted to jump out the car and congratulate him on his wisdom! Thinking ahead - brilliant! The next time I shop car, I’m not looking at the car, I’m looking at the tyre size and availability.
Bumper to bumper, 80km/h we made our way to Port Elizabeth and arrived at 5pm. Exhausted and totally overwhelmed by the traffic. We booked into our little lodge and ate pizza that night.
The next morning we had to be at the PE airport by 8:30 to get Dad and from there we made our way to Port Alfred to spend Christmas with the family. I kid you not but the road from PE to Port Alfred was dead, NO TRAFFIC, and we were there in no time! Even PE was quiet.
So after nearly 3 days, 2 nights, 900km and 14 hours of traveling we made it in one piece as a family of 6. We had a wonderful time with the family and Christmas was great but emotional. It was our first Christmas without Dad so the emotions were running high at times. I drowned myself in the kitchen, cooking up a storm and it helped. A lot!
We drove home the day after Christmas, another 900km but this time my husband joined us on the journey. It was wonderful and I only spent 250km behind the wheel. It makes a big difference when you are 2 people driving. Wow!
4 Weeks and 1 day later we drove into our complex and I felt gratitude. A wonderful time indeed. Even with the long road trip to PE, I wouldn’t change a thing. God was so good for us and as always kept us safe, even in the times that we were not together.
After such a blessed holiday I can’t say that I’m not ready for 2018..... so let’s do this! Let’s take this year by the horns and ride it like a bull! I’m ready to be a blessing and to share many more adventures.
The end x
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