Ever break down alongside the road on your way to a destination and feel your blood start to boil?  I have numerous times.  Here’s one example:

what’s that noise?  that sounds weird.  I pushed the gas pedal and nothing happened.  uh oh, big hill ahead, there’s an exit should I take it?  no, lets try to get up this hill.  that noise really doesn’t sound good.  uh, oh, there are a lot of lights on the dash and the van isn’t moving better drift off to the side of the interstate and hope the kids don’t hear me cursing.

ever happen to you?  that moment of sheer panic knowing that something bad, really bad just happened to your vehicle.

It’s cold, raining, our 4 yr. old daughter and 1 yr. old son are in the back.  The van is completely inoperable and we just passed an exit my wife told me I should take to find a mechanic.

Now what?  well let’s just walk down this small hill to the exit where I saw a gas station, it’s right there, I can see it.   The small hill was a big hill and walking down the side of an interstate in a cold rain really sucks.

A car stops, they roll down the window – “we heard about you van broke down on the interstate and someone said they saw you walking.  Can we give you a ride?”  I look at my wife, we don’t know who these people are.  They might want to take us to ratty trailer and chop us up but it’s cold and raining and this really sucks so we should take a ride.

They tell us the police towed our van before we could get back to it and they were trying to find out where they took it.  They catch word on the scanner and take us to the van.  Hollywood is the name of tow truck driver.  He’s a transplant from NY City to Cumberland, MD.  We thank the helpful and friendly couple for saving us from a bad idea to walk down I-68.

Hollywood assures us we’re in good hands, takes us to a gas station to try to get the van stared with some fresh fuel which doesn’t work, then calls the guy who owns an import repair center in town who answers on a Sunday night and says he’ll start working on it in the morning.

After dropping off the van Hollywood takes us to the local hotel, makes sure we get checked in, and give us some ideas of what to do in Cumberland, MD since we were going to be there for a day or two.

The next morning I walk over to the import repair shop where Mike, the owner, assures me he’ll figure it out and get us back on the road.  In the meantime we’d talked about stopping in Cumberland for a while but hadn’t found the time.  Now, it appears, our van was telling us it was time to stop and explore Cumberland.

Two days in Cumberland gave us enough time to check out the National Park Service Interpretive Center along the C&O Canal.  The town has a wonderful downtown full of charming local shops with lots of character.  The Main Street is closed off to traffic and was lit up for Christmas while we were there.

Serendipity is the ability of making accidental but fortuitous discoveries, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.

This experience was serendipitous for us.  It turned a seemingly bad situation into an unplanned, unforeseen opportunity to explore and learn about a beautiful place, one we’ll never forget.  We’ve been back to Cumberland three time since primarily due to the wonderful, friendly, helpful people who helped us turn a potentially bad situation into a wonderful experience.

Last week our van broke down on the way to Cheat Fest and we had an impromptu picnic at mile marker 67 followed by an informative ride in the tow truck with Woody.

I encourage you to embrace the unknown, unforeseen, and unplanned.  The people of Appalachia have always demonstrated their ability to lend a helping hand.  It’s in their blood, part of their character and culture.

I’ve learned things I might have never known, been able to talk with locals I might have never met and hear their stories, felt welcomed and blessed to know these people.

Colleen Anderson, a writer and singer whose travels have made her an expert on West Virginia, describes this experience in the WV’s 2010 Travel Guide, “when I stopped to ask directions to Arthurdale, an elderly lady invited me into her home, fed me the best pie I ever ate, recounted her own history as a homesteader in 1934 – and then sent me Christmas cards every year until she died.  That’s West Virginia for you!”

So next time you blow a gasket before you blow your top wait a minute – it just might be a serendipitously stupendous experience.