We are currently in the monsoon season here in Arizona. This is a wonderful time of year when the rain comes pouring down and fills all the drainage ponds that are in every neighborhood. We have a pond directly across the street. When it is not raining, the pond is beautiful with the green grass, there is a basket ball hoop and large pad for the kids to play on and there are two soccer goal thingies there. All the roads are graded with the slope directing the water into these ponds. Today our pond is covered with water as we had a tremendous cloudburst last night. When these rains come there are many flashfloods that rush everywhere leaving a trail of mud and debris on the roads. This morning there were several pieces of heavy equipment trying to clear roads so cars could get trough.
We went to Gilbert to celebrate Brook’s birthday yesterday. After the meal was over, Dick noticed that the sky was looking rather strange and said we needed to head out as we did not want to get caught in a storm like last time (read here). We live about 40 minutes from Brook’s house so we were in a hurry to get home before the storm hit.
We got part way home and the rain really was getting worse and it seemed like we were driving into the eye of the storm. The roads were beginning to puddle with water making the dips rather full. We went through several of the puddles and no problems then all of a sudden our car began to spit and sputter and dies. Dick got the car off the road on to the side (here they do not have shoulders like we are used to in Utah) with part of the car in the outside lane. He tried to get the car to start but nothing would happen. We waited for 10 minutes and tried….yeah.. it started…for only two seconds and then died. We waited for another 10 minutes and it repeated the same scenario. All this time I am praying that we will get the car started so we can get home. We are about 8 miles from home at this point.
A young family stops and asks if we needed help. Dick explained what was happening with the car and tries it and lo and behold it starts and stays going. The man gets back in his car and leaves…and our car dies. We wait another 10 minutes and again the same scenario happens.
As we were sitting there waiting for another 10 minutes to pass a Pinal County Deputy Sheriff pulls up and wants to know what is going on. Dick told him what the car was doing and tried to start the car but nothing this time. He stopped the traffic and him , two other gentlemen and I pushed the car across four lanes of traffic to a side road. Thanks were given for their help in getting us off of the busy main road and they all leave.
We called Elton and Brook to see if they could come and help us get home. I called the insurance company because we have towing coverage on our vehicles and they took all the info to give to a tow company to come get us. While we were waiting another gentleman stopped to see if he could help us but we told him we were just waiting for the tow truck to come.
In the meantime Brook and Elton get to within one mile of us and the road is closed and have to divert three different times before they could find a road that was not blocked to get going back toward us. Dick tried the car one more time and it started and stayed going. Goody, we get to go home. We headed for home and I called and canceled the tow truck and called Brook and told her we were headed home and she should go home.
Everything was going perfect when all of a sudden the road was covered with standing water…and once again the car dies…Dick gets it over to the side (we are about 50 ft. from an intersection and four miles from home). I open the door to see how high the water is and it is 1 inch from the bottom of the door. This is not good I am thinking. I hurry and call Brook and they were just waiting a mile up the road to see if we got home. About that time the same deputy sheriff stops, going in the opposite direction, and just shakes his head. Dick told him that we had someone coming to get us.
All of a sudden a jeep, filled with four young adults, does a U turn and comes to the side of the car and wanted to know if they could help get our car out of the water as the rain was suppose to get worse. They hooked on to us and pulled us out of the water and into a parking lot. They told us that all the roads were closed going east and no one could get through. Brook and Elton followed us to the parking lot where we had to leave the car for the night and took us to their house where we had a nice warm bed to sleep on.
This morning we borrowed Brook’s car, came home and got the van home safe and sound. When Dick went to start it, it just turned over and purred like it normally does.
Angels were in attendance with us last night and my many prayers were heard and answered. The Lord looked down on us and sent His angels to assist us in our time of need. This was a blessing as Dick is having such a hard time walking right now and there was no way he could have pushed the car out of the road or gotten down in the water and strapped the cable to our car to be pulled. Yes, I do know that my Father in Heaven does watch over us and hears our many pleas.
