Turkey Hunting

On Saturday I headed West to New Mexico to hold a meeting. I was excited to be "On the Road Again" and got an early start - around 6:00am. About 30 miles South of Post, TX a turkey (much like the one pictured here) made a last second decision that proved to be fatal. She decided to take flight directly in the path of my 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 travel at a speed of about 75 MPH up Highway 84. Needless to say, my Dodge won - but at the same time, so did the turkey.

After hitting the bird, I looked in my mirror to see the feathers flying all over the road, only to find that there were no feathers. What? I know I hit that bird, there is no way I missed it. I even heard it hit.

I thought, oh well, it must be stuck to the bumper or something and I'm not going to stop now and peel it off. So I continued on, not really giving it another thought.

When I arrived in Post it was time to refuel. So I pulled into the gas station at the corner of Highway 84 and 380, got out and filled my truck with the needed go juice. I noticed that people were looking at me rather oddly, but still never really gave it another thought - that is until I finished refueling and pulled up out of the way so I could go in and use the restroom and buy some coffee. It was at this point that a lady informed me that I had a big bird stuck in my grill.

I proceeded to peel this bird out of my grill thus revealing the real damage. That turkey took out my radiator. I had not noticed any overheating since hitting the bird, but then, it was a cool morning so I decided to press on.

Upon arriving at the Texas/New Mexico border I finally overheated. That was about 80 miles. I again pulled over and let my truck cool off, found a guy with some stop leak and a couple of jugs of water (all of which cost me close to $30.00 - the price of doing business in a small town) and was on my way again.

I decided to go to Hobbs, NM since it was only 50 miles away and see if I could find a new radiator. That proved useless as no one in town could help me. However, I never overheated on this short trip to Hobbs so I decided to continue on my route. Besides, the next town was only 40 miles away, surely I could make it that far.

WRONG! I only made it 20 miles before overheating. So agian I stop and let the truck cool down, add more water and continue on. I make it to the edge of town and I am overheating yet another time.

By this time, frustration has reached a peak. Add this to the absolutely terrible month I had last month and it was all I could take emotionally. I called the pastor of the church that I was to be with and informed him that I was broken down and would need a ride. After those arrangement were made I decided to call my wife and let her know that I had not made my destination. I had already talked with her upon leaving Post, so this was an update. As soon as I heard her voice I lost control of my emotions and the tears began to flow uncontrollably. I am normally not an overly emotional person but this was more than I could handle and to be honest, it really felt good to just let go and let some of that pent-up frustration out.

To make a long story short, I made it another 16 miles before shutting it down for good and waiting for a tow truck to come rescue me. They hauled me and my disabled truck to Rowsell, NM where I waited another hour for someone from Socorro, NM to come pick me up for my meeting the next day. I was due to arrive in Socorro around 4:00pm, but with all the delays, it was 1:30am before I got to my room.

Yet, as usual, God blessed with a really good meeting and touched lives. On top of that, God met my needs with supplying the entire amount of extra cash to pay for the repairs on my truck. The total cost of repairs was $1298.70, of which my insurance covered all but $250.00 of that bill. It was a tough weekend, one that I am glad is now past, but then, it was also a really good weekend and a reminder that God is in control.

Oh - BTW, the man who came to Roswell to get me hit a deer on the way back and then hit two birds. I told him that I would soon exit his vehicle and doubtfully he would encounter any more animals. :-)