The morning was cool and calm as we began the last half of our journey to Lancaster, PA.  We had a very restful night and we were greeted by chirping songbirds as we woke up and prepared to leave.  Exiting our campsite, and dodging a huge tree right at our site, took some careful maneuvering on Bill’s part. The camp was quiet, shady, and very adequate.  We would definitely return to Natural Bridge, VA! 

So Day 2 got off to a great start.  All was going well – or so we thought – until we stopped for a brief break at the tourist bureau just inside West Virginia.  Bill noticed the left rear wheel-bearing on the travel trailer was leaking fluid and the hub cap was extremely hot – so hot that when he touched it (as he always does when doing his walk-arounds) it actually burned his hand, though not severely.   Obviously, this leakage was something very serious which had to be addressed immediately, so we called our roadside assistance folks who directed us to Ray’s Auto Repair shop in nearby Bunker Hill, W. VA.  Here we go, hoping we can find the place before anything gets worse.

Finding Ray’s Repair was much like I imagine finding Tobacco Road must have been!  Located way at the end of a country lane, we found it!  One of the guys was nice enough to back the RV right up next to the garage doors so it would be convenient to do the work.  He got us going after a few hours of waiting on parts, etc., including replacing a defective tire on the right side that we did not even know about before this incident.  This tire was very near blowing-out, apparently damaged on the road somewhere along the way.  It could have caused a really bad wreck and severe damage to the camper had the tire actually blown out.  We did not even want to go there in our minds! 

God’s hand of protection was all around us.  This delay was not programmed into our travel agenda and Bill kept beating up on himself for not have the wheel bearings re-packed before we left on our trip.  It was quite an experience, to say the least, including a panoramic view of the classic Old McDonald’s farm!  A live production played out right before our eyes as we waited, the cast being a multitude of farm animals and then some!  The activity all around the repair shop included crowing roosters and just about every species of chickens imaginable. There were White Leghorns, Dominecker, Rhode Island Reds, and other “brands” that I cannot recall from my days of growing up in the country.  Ducks fiercely competed with the chickens as they scratched the earth for a few morsels of feed.  I laughed as one White Leghorn hen – well, maybe she was a pullet - literally chased a duck away from the grains.  The duck finally escaped to safety by going airborne several yards away!  (No, she wasn't a Gamecock, you South Carolina folks.  I'm sure.)  I suppose the Leghorn got the corn, or whatever it was they were in a war about.  And there were too many kitties to count!  Dogs lounged lazily and quite comfortably on discarded carpeting that had been tossed from the owner’s mobile home across the road.  Never a dull moment around this repair shop, for sure.

Also, there some children around the shop; one in particular was a cute little girl, 4 or 5 years old, who wagged around and cuddled her teeny Chihuahua named Jelly Bean.  She graciously offered to let me cuddle Jelly Bean, too.  I should have accepted her offer, but I declined.  At one point I decided to rest a bit inside the camper as we were waiting.  About that time a rooster slipped up very near the camper door and let out an extremely loud crow that scared the willies out of me!  It very much resembled the Fox News rooster who crows each morning as Fox and Friends comes on! In fact, I’m sure that rooster had escaped the set in New York and made its way to Ray’s Repair Shop.  I tell you, it was a sight to behold around there.  But were we grateful for the expertise of the mechanics?  You bet we were!  If we had not had the wheel bearing issue, who knows when the other defective tire would have been discovered.  God is good!  We were – and are – thankful.