Colorado Springs, Colorado!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days but we had our first emergency. During our 14 hour drive across Kansas on Wednesday (flatland) our mpg started getting worse (down to 7 mpg) and mike started noticing the truck was shifting hard. About an hour before our destination of our friends, house the allays in Colorado Springs where we planned to stay two nights the car started skipping a gear so it was either barely running orbit like 7000 rpms. This GREATLY concerned us. Michael was able to nurse it along with the manual shift thing but it clearly was "not right". We made it to Steve and Moira's by 7:30pm but the next morning Steve and Mike left the trailer in their driveway and took the truck to the only Ford dealership in town. They confirmed the transmission trouble and were able to fix it but couldn't confirm that it would happen again which really freaked us out knowing we were spending the next two weeks in the rocky mountains! Our truck had trouble in the flatlands of America, what on earth was going to happen at 12,000 feet where there arent any dealerships? This is when I realized that though I griped about it earlier, mikes desire to get a V8 would be a much smarter option to do what we wanted to do so... Call it crazy but we traded the fixed V6 Explorer in for a V8 white crew cab pickup. It took most of the day to work out the details but we actually were able to stay on schedule, mike and Steve got to shop cars all day, the girls and I got some downtime home with Moira, Spence and Bo, clean up the trailer and do some laundry and now we're in a better vehicle with plenty of power getting about 3-4 mpg better which makes a world of difference with today's as prices (FYi...cheapest we have paid thus far is $3.35). I look at this whole "snafu" as a God thing. We were only spending 2 days on the whole trip in a major city with friends. This couldve happened in the middle of no where in 106 degree heat like we experienced in the plains. We could've been stranded in some motel while mike found a solution BUT God worked it out that we were totally well cared for at the Allabys, there was a huge dealership like 15 minutes away AND our friend Dave Dariano who owns a Ford dealership in NY was available to counsel us (and give us the inside scoop!) thru the transaction. If it was going to happen, Gods timing was perfect! It ALWAYS IS! (good lesson for when I think it doesn't!) we left the next morning ON TIME and spent the day crossing the Rockies up to 11,000 feet with no problem. It was a gorgeous day! We made it to Moab Utah in time to set up and see Arches National Park for the late afternoon. THANK YOU Lord Jesus for caring for the little and BIG concerns of our lives and being trustworthy with everything!