Some times Angels wear Cowboy hats

Today we had quite the adventure. We decided to take a drive over to one of the other ranches an hour away and visit Susie. It all started out well. Then I decided to take the back road to save on time! Well that back road was aweful last year, and lets just say it was even worse than I rememebered. Imagine an old pavement road that has not been maintained in years. A road that has more holes than swiss cheese. Russians are used to roads like these, they simply drive slow and skirt the massive holes, much like they do when walking in town in their high heels!

Long story short: the short cut did NOT end up being the fastest option. We didn't get stuck but at one point both sides of the road had large ponds and the middle of the road was a huge water filled pot hole, with only a foot on each side of the hole left of the road. I didn't know how deep it was or what was in it, but had to plow through! And luckily we made it. There were several deep pot holes hit, and many times I slamed on the brakes trying to avoid loosing a tire in a pot hole. After what seemed like an eternity, we got off the back road I pulled over, got out and made sure all of our tires were round and full of air and miraculously, they were!ha I was surprised.

Luckily the main road I turned onto was better maintained, not great but definately better.  I was grumbling down the road cussing out the Russian government and their lack of road up keep. I decided after I hit yet another huge pot hole, that someone could loose a tire on this dang road. I guess I should explain that these pot holes are NOT you average pot holes! They are deep and wide, and sometimes so numerous you can't avoid them. The very worst part is that you really can't see them until your right about to hit them. On top of this sometimes the road has deteriorated so much only one car can drive on it at a time.

 The roads explane ALOT about how Russians drive, they just go where ever they want or need to, inorder to avoid pot holes. Which can be pretty scary when everyone is driving in a zig zag pattern going 50 miles per hour on a somewhat two lane highway. As long as you get out of the way of the oncoming traffic in the nick of time your fine. Luckily the majority of people don't own cars.

One day on this same road the sides of the road were filled with ice and snow like the snow plow only went down the middle of the road and not in each lane. A car was coming at me fast. Usually both cars pull off a bit and keep going. Well apparently this car was too cool to do that! I slam on my brakes and get over just in time not to get hit head on! He was totally playing chicken with me! He didn't even blink, just kept going, didn't even slow down.

As I was contemplating all the road hazards and just after I thought that someone could loose a tire, a blue deliver truck comes toward me and pretty soon not one but TWO tires come rolling off the back left side!! At first I was like, ha told you so! Then I realized that one of the tires was going to hit me. The truck was still trying to stop and There just wasn't room to go anywhere, so I slammed on my brakes and skidded across the road almost at a complete stop by the time I hit the loose tire rolling toward me. When it hit it hit pretty hard, but luckily it bounced off and didn't pop up and come through the windshield. I jump out get the licence plate, check the huge dent on the front end, and then hear another car aproaching so I run and jump back in the pickup so we don't get rear ended by the oncoming car.

So in a matter of seconds, I got hit, grabbed my licence plate through it in the back and keep driving! Leaving the delivery truck man walking around mad that this accident bent his back axel and no doubt cost him his job. In Russia if you get hit, you just pick up the pieces of your car and hopefully drive off. And because our accident was right after a large curve in the road, the only thing I could think to do was get out of the road or we were going to get hit again! 

As we drove off, and things started to sink in I had Merritt say a prayer and be sure and thank Heavenly Father that we were safe and that we would make it to our destination without any further mishaps! I thought about how lucky we were that the tire didn't come through the windshield, because our pickup is not very tall.

The car that I heard, came up behind us and I could tell is was a Russian pickup like the ones alot of the Americans drive. And pretty soon I saw the driver was wearing a cowboy hat. I realized in that moment a few things, one, that if something bad had happened, there would have been someone right behind us to help us, and that no matter how alone I feel sometimes, I know Heavenly Father is watching over us. And thirdly that sometimes, angels wear cowboy hats.

That pickup followed me all the way to Susie's house. It gave me so much comfort that if my bumber decided to fall off or a tire, someone had my back. It turned out my guardian angel was Bob, Susie's husband. He randomly had to go to Trubchevsk to run an errand. They hardly EVER go to Trubchevsk. But He did that day, and it was a quiet reminder to me that no matter where in the world I am,  I am being watched over.

When I got home that evening and when Josh got home from work and inspected the pickup, he couldn't believe what had happened and how hard the tire hit us or just how blessed we had been that day.