“Sometimes things happen beyond your control.

That is a very interesting saying as almost everything is beyond your control. Whether it has to do with children, adults, parents, jobs or careers, cars, homes, toys or anything else you may own or deal with on a daily basis. Most everything happens and then you become reactionary and deal with whatever life throws at you. There are very few things where you can be proactive to ensure that the worst does not happen, and even then it may (mainly because it is beyond any control you have or think you have).

Control is something we wrestle with. We want it, and some people even become freaks about it. They can’t fly in an airplane because they do not want to put their lives in the hands of someone they do not know. They have to be the one behind the wheel when they travel. They do not ride the rides at amusement parks. They do not play the lottery. They do not believe in any form of religion, as they cannot stand the thought of putting their eternity in the hands of a Creator or god of some form or fashion. The truth is, we have very little control when it comes to life.

I remember when my daughter was diagnosed with Whooping Cough. They had not seen a case of it in 15 years at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Many came around to see her and figure out how this happened. She had the shots. The doctors said she was just the “one in a million” that contracted it even if she was vaccinated. I remember when my papaw had his heart attack. There was nothing I could do to help. That time when the neighbor’s house burned down or when the others had a tree fall on their house were both seeming to be “freak accidents” that no one could have ever saw coming. “We didn’t see that coming” is a common phrase used if you are a living, breathing soul on this planet, used much more often than “yep! I knew that was about to happen.”

This past Friday, I was traveling to the Ozarks National Forest to spend a weekend with friends. I had packed my things and waited on Gia to arrive from NW Arkansas. She arrived in Central Arkansas around 4 p.m. and we headed west in order to meet up with a friend and then head to camp around the Big Piney. We traveled west on I-40 at normal slow speeds (the FJ Cruiser is not meant for speed lol), and then exited at Lamar, AR about 100 miles west of where we had departed. I came to a stop at the stop sign and let a car pass by. I went to take off and heard a noise coming from the vehicle I had never heard before. I was a knocking. It sounded like a bad lifter. It definitely did not sound good. I only prayed it was a stick stuck in the fan and would just go away. This was no stick. It was a metal sound. A ticking that was very loud every time I pressed on the accelerator. This was concerning. 221,000 miles and climbing on the FJ. I know something will happen one day. These rigs are built to last, but they will not last forever. I have always feared this, and today might be the day.

This is very concerning for a few reasons. We get married in a month. We plan on leaving to go on an extended trip to Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota (maybe Canada) for our Honeymoon. Everything we have planned revolves and hinges on us taking the FJ. We will sleep in it, eat out of it, live in it and use it for travel. It is pretty much the center of everything we do outside of work throughout the entire year.

We met up and stopped for a break at Mac’s Pines on Arkansas’ Scenic Highway 7. I talked it over with Gia and decided it would be best if we limped the FJ home and started working on finding someone to look at it. I do not have a dedicated Toyota person that I am comfortable with. I have never had engine problems and really had no need for one up until this point. We got out of the FJ and relayed the bad news to the rest of our group. They had me start it up and took a listen. They all concurred that it did not sound good and that we were making the right decision to head back home and begin the process of getting it figured out. We said our goodbyes and started the long route to Interstate 40 and then home.

The ride home was not too bad. We were not throwing out any smoke from the rear and it did not feel as if I had lost power. I took it very easy and slow as I did not want to make anything that was wrong any worse than what it was already. I truly feared no being able to get in to a shop soon enough to get the repairs done before we headed out on the honeymoon. I feared the worst with each passing mile. The drive home was very somber.

After arriving back home, which we did without any issue (except a bad vibration in the rear of the vehicle), I put a post out on Facebook asking if anyone had a mechanic around my area they trusted to work on Toyotas. I received a comment from a trusted friend about a shop here in town. I made contact with the shop and called them. I explained the issue I was having and they told me to drop the FJ off with them at the end of the week and they should be able to get to it pretty soon. I told them that would work for me and we made plans to do so. Needless to say, my prayer life was working overtime at this point. I did not need this right now. This was the worst possible time that my rig could take a dump. We had a 13 state, almost four-week adventure planned up into the Upper Peninsula and I was counting on this Little Girl to take us there.

I drove the FJ to the shop and dropped her off, looking at her fiercely as I was driven away by my dad, back to work.

The call came a couple days later. My stomach churned as I looked at the caller ID on my cell phone. Bad news or good news, what could it be? The guy on the other side stated they had looked it over really good and then proceeded to give me the “not so good” news. He stated that it was not as bad as I had originally thought. That’s good, right? I had a couple issues, but neither of them were motor issues. The “ticking” that I was hearing was coming from several cracks in my headers (last year I had warning lights stating my catalytic converters needed to be replaced. I opted for headers and a catback exhaust since it was just a little more for this potentially powerful upgrade). That is definitely good. The lifters aren’t bad. There isn’t a bent rod. That’s pretty good news. He then continued. The other issue I had was that I had a severely bent drive shaft. This was the reason I had a severe shake while traveling down the road. I had originally thought this was from my tires being out of round and I would take care of that with a new set of tires. I would have never guessed this. This was ok news. I can deal with that. The estimate was $1400 which was much less than I had prepared myself for, with me dreaming it was much worse. This “not so good” news was actually pretty good news.

In a week, I had picked up the FJ and was back on the road and ready to go. I still have a little “tick” but I was prepared for that as headers usually have issues. It is a tradeoff with the chance you take for the extra power and performance. All in all, it drove really well and I was happy. We were back on schedule for the honeymoon and the plans for travel were good to go.

Sometimes, the news you receive is not what you anticipate. Sometimes it is better, but oftentimes we let our minds wander and think it is something beyond what we can deal with. Whatever it is, prepare yourself, for that “not so good” news. In doing that, you will realize that, even though it is out of your hands, you can control your attitude and actions. Figure it out and deal with it. Move on for soon enough, you will be back on the road, adventuring just like always. We can improvise, overcome and adapt to any situation we are put through. That is a guarantee.