I gave Breanna a choice. She chose flying back to Loki, which I can appreciate. Driving across barren lands with children, one still a baby, goes from being exciting like an adventure to miserably challenging depending on how often you’re stuck. For them to fly standby requires flexibility, but the trip will be over in hours, not days.
A good friend and fellow AIM AIR pilot agreed to drive up with me. The car had been left in Nairobi last November to be worked on, and I wanted to start attempt number 2 to get it home. (Attempt number 1 in January ended up with an overheated engine on the edge of Nairobi, and limping back to the shop).
So, several thousands later, I was ready to try again. Hope sprang eternal, knowing the most outstanding and significant issues were addressed. I wanted to get the car to Loki and let it spend the rest of its rough life in town, hopefully never to hit the “highway” again.
Jim had no idea what he was getting into.
Jim and I had a great start, with everything running great. The air conditioning was able to be fixed by a recommended AC expert on the way. That lasted for two hours.
The fix for the AC was a pleasant surprise, at first, but delayed our trip. We drove down out of the Kenya highlands at night, and right past our stop for the night. We were looking for a road sign we never saw. As we, unknowingly, rattled and rolled past our beds in the dark, I down shifted and felt the clutch go right to the floor with zero effort. I pumped it a few times. Still no pressure.
“Ahh, Jim? I think I lost the clutch.”
Onward we went, weaving in and around craters in the road. We stared into blackness hoping for the right sign to emerge, and scheming about how we would be able to even turn around with no clutch.
We made it back after a bunch of phone calls, saying, “Just come, you will see the sign!” We did. It was 20 feet up in the air hanging behind a tree. The only way we found it was with a flashlight.
Fortunately the discovery could start with no problem in low range, and I could find four out of the five gears OK. Jim acted as my data assistant, scrawling RPMs, gears, and speeds down on his hand for reference when I shifted.
“Third is 1250 at 20 KPH!”
“Got it!”
And after a tiny amount of grinding, it went in.
After stopping, our hopes that a hydraulic line came loose were quickly dashed. The next morning we struggled to get a peek behind the slave cylinder. One bolt refused to release, and we ran out of good ideas.
Jim asked, “even if we get it off, what are we going to do? We don’t have the facilities, lying in the sand with a small tool set, to get at the clutch.”
Good point. I was hoping to know the severity of the problem and decide if we should drive on or turn back.
Fortunately Jim had time to shoot video of me talking and working, something I can use on our furlough to explain why we should probably get a better vehicle for where we live.
We decided to drive back up into the mountains (which intimidated me without a good clutch). In Kitale we had more options.
After Jim found out a missionary he knew from several decades ago was back near Kitale, we were connected with a reputable mechanic.
The next day, the mechanic started pulling the engine after we insisted he check behind the slave cylinder just to make sure the problem was in the clutch. It was.
I talked to my mechanic in Nairobi, who theorized the problem was a weak link in Land Rover clutches for this engine: the release fork. He was right. Jim and I spent the day looking around town for all sorts of parts, calling Nairobi for comparisons, and looking at flight information and courier services.
A miracle happened when one of our pilots dashed to near Nairobi’s downtown area and found all the parts, including a set the Land Rover dealer didn’t have in stock in all of Kenya. We found out a courier service could overnight it all the way up here for 8 bucks.
This morning we were told the courier service truck two days ago had crashed, and everything was late. However, we stood around this morning, straining to read the labels on boxes coming out of the dented box truck. And then I saw it. My exuberance was a giveaway, and the workers took it to the counter where we could sign for it, and rush back to the “garage.”
Right now we are minutes away from the engine being back in the car, and ready to head back down the mountain, probably at night again, and resume our trip. Minutes away, but three days later.
I’m grateful for many things, but on this trip, I’m grateful Jim was with me. He has a very experienced eye for things to look for while the mechanic reassembled the engine. I’m thankful the failure wasn’t more severe or expensive, since our finances are quite strained after all the work put into the car up until now (Olivia, we’re thinking community college … ;).
I’m also grateful Jim had a friend in town, and I was able to learn Kitale, our nearest BIG town to Loki. I got names and numbers from shop owners I met, who said they would be very willing to ship items to me in Loki.
And, finally, I realized this car has to go. We don’t drive very much (we’re spoiled pilots, after all), but the main reason I wanted to have a vehicle is as a backup, in case the unthinkable were to happen: Breanna and the kids needing to flee town. I could not see them doing that in this car without miracle after miracle falling into place.
Perhaps God’s been trying to drill that into me for several months now, and I’m just now getting it. But, as my first ministry is to Breanna and to the kids, I can’t rest knowing I could do better in the vehicle department.
We’ll start by praying and asking, and see where God leads us.
We already have a vehicle project, and it is fairly healthy already. We need to probably quadruple whats in there, though. Here’s the link for now, and I’ll let you know when that video’s done!
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