For us, Yosemite has been a place we've wanted to visit for years. Ever since we got back from our huge trip in 2005, mom would be telling someone about the time we went to Yellowstone, and she would get it confused with Yosemite. This isn't hard to do since Yosemite and Yellowstone are both very famous national parks, and they both start with a Y. We had never been to Yosemite before, so John and I would always have to say "Yellowstone Mom! Not Yosemite!" To say the least: It's been on our list for awhile. We are finally there, driving up and down the mountains in the park when we start to smell burning rubber. At this point we just think it's somebody else's tires, and we keep going on our way. We drive through a tunnel and stop at a gorgeous overlook to take some pictures and enjoy the view, but as we are getting out of the car, mom looks at the front, left tire and sees smoke coming out of it. Of course we're worried now, and mom says a little prayer for God to send us the right person to help.
A group of motorcyclists pull in and start taking pictures, but one is all by himself, trying to take a picture with the waterfall in the background. This just isn't working because he is such a tall guy, and his viewfinder is kind of cutting his head off in the picture. Mom walks over and asks him if he would like us to take it for him, and he says yes. I don't know why, but a lot of people are intimidated my motorcyclists, but this guy was completely friendly! While mom was taking the picture, I noticed he was wearing a cross necklace. OK, so he's not the usual skull-and cross bones biker, but maybe he just likes to wear crosses. I still wasn't sure, and when Mom asked if he knew anything about cars he was glad to help. We started chatting with the fellow, and pretty soon it was obvious that he wasn't just wearing that cross lightly. His name is Eric, and he assessed that our brakes were over-heating and that we should wait at least an hour before going back up the windy road we had just come down. In the end, it was all good, and even though our brakes were a problem, I'm so glad we were able to meet Eric!
