What happens when you have a winter weather advisory and one chain for your bus that is a link to short? The winter retreat was looking doomed. After two hours of trying to make a chain fit on a bus we realized it was a futile effort. A few weeks prior new tires were put on the bus and the chain no longer fit with the increased tread depth. Problems with a previous mechanic at the bus barn and numerous other small errors led to us not having the correct safety gear. We could not proceed safely (and the time we lost trying to put chains on made it a lot darker and more dangerous to proceed.) So our trip looked doomed.Many times in life we get to that point where we feel a link short and doomed. I turned the bus around and headed back to Eugene, only being just under an hour away from our destination of Black Butte Ranch. With some quick thinking Shaun and I got permission to crash at Fairfield Baptist Church. If we would have let the kids go home ,and pick them up the next day, to try again the logistical nightmare would not prove worthwhile. I am grateful for Fairfield for helping us try again. The next day we got a new bus with correct chains and headed up the pass again. We waited an hour for weather to clear and arrived at Black Butte Ranch without incident.
The kids were relatively unfazed. Leaders however, especially Shaun and myself, were a little more drained. Staying up late and waking up early to make sure we did everything to keep kids safe and make this trip happen. When we are a link short God fills in for our (and others) shortcomings.
