Barkcamp State Park, Belmont, Ohio
Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him. ~ Genesis 45:14-15 Oh the power of forgiveness! What rejoicing and tears of joy that were shed that day! I don’t know the hearts of the older brothers. Where they relived that Joseph wasn’t going to be vindictive; wasn’t going to enslave or kill them? Or were they truly overjoyed that he was, despite their best efforts, alive and well. It would kinda be like suddenly discovering that a sibling you’d sold into human trafficking was now the President of the United States. Well, actually, it’s pretty much just like that. Have you ever treated someone with contempt, only to have them forgive you? And not just forgive, but embrace you? This is a wonderful example of God’s grace, mercy and love for us. We treat Him with contempt, but He embraces us with unbelievable love and forgiveness and acceptance. And not only that, He brings us to Him and cares for us! We need only to ask His forgiveness, believe in His Son Jesus, and talk with Him.
“Baton down the hatches” has a whole new meaning for us these days. Because of our list to starboard, we have to make sure every drawer and door is closed in the ‘locked travel position’, otherwise, they slowly slide open. A lot. Today, we continued working towards putting a stop to that.
Blaine began working on our “little issue” early this morning.
Fortunately, I’m married to a wonderfully gifted Mr. Fixit!! Arg! Arg! Arg! (as Tim Allen would say 😊) Once he discovered the problem, he started making calls and researching. Oh! And besides the new jacks, we also need a new hydraulic line. He found a place that said they’d take a look. So we discarded our plans for today. Well, not completely. I tagged along just in case everything that could be taken care of was done early. If it was, we could stop at some of the places we were planning on visiting in and near Wheeling, West Virginia. I shoulda taken my book along. 😊
Here’s how the day went – – Ohio to West Virginia to Ohio to West Virginia to Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Ohio. Criminently! That’s a lot of driving!
We didn’t know until we were ready to back out! Ooops!
Each shop we visited referred us to another and so on and so on. But people were praying (including us!). We know some powerful prayer warriors, and the last place we stopped at not only had the hose ($41 vs $100!), they said they could re-weld the jack! And suddenly an $1,300 replacement became a $330 fix! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!!
Of course, there’s the little matter of extra gas and “Thank You” donuts for the shop; because not only did they agree to fix it right away, they agreed despite their five-week backlog! They actually called at 4pm today to tell us the job was done! We’ll pick it up, and drop off the donuts Monday morning on our way to Maryland! (Yes, they have a place to park our RV, too!) How could anyone look at this and say God wasn’t involved? Of course, He was! And we’re soooo very grateful!
Once that was settled, we took some time to walk around historic Wheeling for a bit.
Below is an article from transportation.wv.gov that explains why the bridge is closed:
9/24/2019
Charleston, WV-
Due to the traveling public’s continued disregard of weight limit and safety signs on the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, officials with the West Virginia Department of Transportation have opted to close the bridge to vehicular traffic for the foreseeable future.
The closure is effective immediately.
“This is not something that we wanted to do,” Secretary of Transportation Byrd White said. “The whole reason we have the safety signs is because we wanted everyday motorists to be able to continue using this iconic and important bridge, while also stopping the heavier traffic that has caused structural damage in the past.
“Unfortunately, the operators of those heavier vehicles continue to ignore our restrictions,” Secretary White said. “While the bridge is absolutely in safe condition now, we need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to prevent future damage. Therefore, our only choice is to close the bridge to all motorists for the time being.”
The bridge will remain open to pedestrians and bicyclists.
Earlier this year, the bridge had to be closed for six weeks after a tour bus – which far exceeded the posted two-ton weight limit – attempted to cross the bridge, only to get stuck under a barrier.
Upon the bridge being deemed safe and reopening to traffic in August, officials from the Division of Highways installed a height barrier with hard restraints to attempt to eliminate such overweight crossings.
However, in the time since, operators of additional vehicles over the weight limit have continued to ignore the restrictions, and have repeatedly driven on the bridge.
“We want to do everything possible to protect this historic structure,” Secretary White said. “In this case, that means stopping vehicular traffic altogether.”
The Wheeling Suspension Bridge was constructed in 1847 and was part of the National Road – the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government, running from Maryland to Illinois. It was the main passageway to the west and was the largest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 to 1851.
The bridge is now a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
The Division of Highways is currently working on a long-term rehabilitation plan to sustain the bridge far into the future.
There’s a small town close by that goes by the name of Blaine! We’d planned on taking Blaine’s picture in front of the Blaine, Ohio post office, but it didn’t have the town’s name on it! : ( The sign is the best we could do . . .
Time to head back to Ohio to make purchases at Lowe’s and WalMart, then home. Whew! I sure hope tomorrow is an ‘adventure-free’ day. 😊
But then whatever would I write about???