Serendipitous Death

We were enjoying the lovely drive from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape, with a planned stop for the night in Beaufort West. Gay and Diane had found a couple of guesthouses on the Internet, but had difficulties booking a reservation. Gay finally concluded the night before, “I think we’re not supposed to book in advance for some reason”.

It was almost lunchtime when our late model BMW Estate car (station wagon) began losing power, like all cylinders were not firing properly.  It almost died, so we stopped for lunch.  I felt heat getting out of the car, discovered it was over 90 degrees, and thought, “that could be the problem”.  After an hour’s rest, while we enjoyed lunch in this quaint little town of Prince Albert, the car started and ran fine, just as it had the past two weeks.  An hour later, it began losing power again.

The next several hours we seemed to be driving “through the valley of the shadow of death”. While the high desert was beautiful, in glorious sunshine surrounded by spectacular mountain views; I was fighting to keep us moving, as we seemed to creep over each crest, and gather momentum on the downhill’s. There were no gas stations, not even any towns on this long stretch of highway N1.

Finally, we seemed to ‘limp’ into Beaufort West, as Gay asked anxiously, “Do you want the car fixed first, or get a room for the night?” I answered, “Let’s find the guesthouse first, then I’ll ask them about a repair shop.”

Looking at the GPS, Gay suddenly said, “Turn right at the next street!” After making the turn she said, “turn left here!” I answered, “Sorry, I’m already passed it.  I will turn at the next street.” As soon as I made the turn at the next street, the car ‘died’. I restarted and it died; restarted and it died. We continued to crawl down this narrow residential street, ever so slowly a few feet at a time, until it finally died and refused to start, when I maneuver between cars parked on each side the street. There I was, blocking the street, unable to move, “dead in my tracks”.

Just then, a truck came down the street and stopped right in front of me. The driver poked her head out the side window, and asked “Need help?”

Gay and Diane joined in, as we immediately responded, “YES!” It seemed almost as quickly she was on her phone, and answered back “it’s on its way!” She got out of her truck and came close to say, “my husband will be here in a few minutes, do you have a room for the night?”  Gay began to explain she had tried to reserve a guesthouse, then stopped and simply said “No.”

With a quick introduction, Ingrid said, “Okay, you can stay at our place, you’ll enjoy it, and it’s just 10 minutes away.” Her husband arrived with two young men, obviously mechanics, as they quickly diagnosed the problem. With our agreement, they transferred our luggage to the back of Korbus’s truck, our new host, who drove us to Lemoenfontein, as we learned about their 22,000 acre game reserve, and he learned of our transportation needs for the next week. It was Friday night and we were to begin our workshop at the University of Fort Hare, six hours away, beginning Monday morning.  The mechanics took our car to the Toyota dealer, where it would be analyzed and repaired, upon approval, while we were away.

Wonderful staff carried our bags to the room, as we checked in; and sat down to a beautiful sunset, with a four-course gourmet dinner.  Korbus made the arrangements for a private rental, and the pick-up truck turned out to be the perfect vehicle for the next week, on miles of pothole roads on our daily commute from Hogsback (mountain resort) to Alice (University of Fort Hare).

It is not the final outcomes of our car’s sudden death, but the incredible timing, and combined circumstances, with the absolute perfect place; that leads us to praise our Lord and our God.