Connecting in Kalamth Falls

Bruce and I had spent Christmas with my mother in Southern California. We were supposed to drive back to Portland Oregon a few days after Christmas but we didn’t have to get back right away. We toyed with leaving on Tuesday or Wednesday, and finally decided upon leaving on Tuesday and rather than take our normal Interstate 5 route, we’d instead drive up the middle of the state and stop in Lancaster, California, to see my brother, Chris, who was racing go-carts at a track there.

We left Southern California early Tuesday morning and reached the race track sometime mid-day. We drove to the entrance gate and were disappointed to discover that they were charging $10 entrance fee per person. We had not planned to spend very long at the track, just long enough to visit with Chris and maybe watch him race once. We didn’t want to pay the $20 (I know. We’re cheap.) So we left the track without seeing Chris and drove on.

We reached Reno about dinner time and decided to eat at a buffet that we like. Normally, there is no line for this buffet, but this night we had to wait in a line to be seated. We spent about two hours at the restaurant eating everything we could.

We decided to look for a motel for the night, and if we found one cheap enough, we’d spend the night there. After calling several hotels and discovering their prices were more than we wanted to pay, we headed for Southern Oregon.

As we approached Klamath Falls, Bruce remarked that he would love to be able to find his brother, Allen, who had moved there several years ago. Bruce had lost Allen’s phone number (this was before the Internet for searching) and didn’t know how he was going to find Allen.

We stopped for gasoline in Klamath Falls about 2:00 AM. It was my turn to drive, so Bruce got into the passenger seat, but my water had spilt and Bruce had to clean it up before he could sit down.

As we finally pulled out of the gas station, I had to wait for a pickup truck passing us on the street. Bruce looked up and said, “That looks like Allen’s truck! Catch up to it at the next light!” The truck stopped at the light and we pulled up beside it. Bruce looked into the cab of the truck and . . . (drum roll) it was Allen!

He looked over at us and was just as surprised as we were. We both pulled over to the curb and got out of our cars. We asked what he had been doing out in the cold December air at 2:00 in the morning. He responded that he wanted to know how cold it was and there was a thermometer on the Bank of America building, so he drove to the bank to see the temperature! Huh??? It didn't make sense to us, but there we were visiting with him.

Allen asked what route we were going to take back to Portland and then advised us of a safer route through the snow covered mountains. He and Bruce chatted for a while and then we left.

As we drove back to Portland we were amazed by how many variables had been in our trip that could have set us forward or back by even two minutes, and then we would have missed meeting Allen. BUT, Heavenly Father knew our needs. He knew Allen’s needs, and he planned for a way for us to get together.

I know he knows each of us so personally that he provides a way for people to be placed in our path to help us with whatever we need.